Rose Bailey, David Hill, Alec Humphrey,

Chuck Wendig, Stew Wilson

 Credits
Writers:
Reap the Whirlwind: Rose Bailey, David Hill, Alec Humphrey, Stew Wilson
Into the Void: Chuck Wendig
Developers:
Reap the Whirlwind: Rose Bailey and Audrey Whitman
Into the Void: Eddy Webb and Chuck Wendig
Editors: David Hill and Genevieve Podleski
Creative Director: Richard Thomas
Interior and Cover Design: Mike Chaney
Artists: Avery Butterworth, Jean Sebastien Rossbach, Mark Nelson, Pat Loboyko, Greg Boychuk, Mark
Poole, Stephen Stahlberg, Sam Araya

© 2016 White Wolf AB All rights reserved. Reproduction

without the written permission of the publisher is expressly
forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for
blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for
personal use only. White Wolf, Vampire, and The World
of Darkness are registered trademarks of White Wolf
AB All rights reserved. Storytelling System, Vampire
the Requiem, Mage the Awakening, Werewolf the
Forsaken, World of Darkness, and The Danse Macabre
are trademarks of White Wolf AB
All rights reserved. All characters, names, places
and text herein are copyrighted by White Wolf AB
This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and supernatural
elements are fiction and intended for entertainment purposes only. This book contains mature content.
Reader discretion is advised.
Check out White Wolf online at http://www.white-wolf.com

2 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start

Vampire: The Requiem 4 Nightmare 34
Dread Presence 34
Introduction 4
Face of the Beast 34
Themes 4 Obfuscate 34
Old + New 4 Face in the Crowd 35
Piety + Blasphemy 4 Touch of Shadow 35
How to use this book 5 Protean 36
Life After Dark 6 Unmarked Grave 36
Predatory Aspect 36
Character Creation 6 Resilience 37
Disciplines 7 Vigor 38
Rules of the Night 7 Into The Void 39
The Basics 7
Introduction 39
Willpower 8
What’s Inside 39
Types of Actions 8 Treatment 40
The Passage of Time 8 A Chapter in
Characters 8 Your Chronicle 40
Attributes 8 Background and Setup 40
Skills 9 The Set-Up 41
Anchors 12 The Cast 43
Masquerade 12 Vampires of the City 47
Requiem 12 Cardinal: Thabit (The Hand of God) 47
Merits 13 Harpy: Blackmoore (The Comedian) 47
Disciplines 13 Hierophant: Daciana (The Monster) 47
Judex: Atticus (The Rational) 47
Action 13
Kogaion: Saladin (The Obsessive) 48
Conditions 14
Master of Elysium: Owen (The Ludicrous) 48
Laws of the Dead 16 Prefect: Quinn (The Madam) 48
Tricks of the Damned 16 Clan Speaker Daeva: :
Mercedes The Blasphemer 48
Feeding 17 Clan Speaker Gangrel:
Daysleep and Waking 18 Robicheaux (The Domesticated) 48
Torpor 18 Clan Speaker Nosferatu:
Fire 18 Grolsch (The Brown Recluse) 49
Clan Speaker Mekhet:
Sunlight 19 Siobhan (The Go-Getter) 49
Frenzy 19 Miscellaneous Enemies 49
Humanity 19 Cop 49
Common Actions 20 Gangbanger 50
Disciplines 28 Daeva Thug 50
Animalism 28 Special Forces/SWAT 50
Feral Whispers 28 Vampire Hunter 51
Raise the Familiar 28 Scene Flowchart 52
Auspex 29
Beast’s Hackles 29 Scenes 53
Uncanny Perception 30 Good Night, Sweet Prince 55
Celerity 31
Secrets on the Wind,
Dominate 31
Like Blood in the Water 57
Mesmerize 31
Pandora’s Box 61
Iron Edict 32
Majesty 32 Encounter Scenarios 65
Awe 32 Aftermath 69
Confidant 33

3
 Vampire: The Requiem
That’s the Masquerade.
Introduction The song and the dance don’t always play well.
Vampire is a game of visceral drama and personal Devote yourself to redeeming human sinners and
horror. you may discover they’re the only creatures you
Vampire is about sex and murder, about power understand.
and wild defiance. It’s about urban squalor and the Spend your nights in a vault perfecting your
romance of the city. It’s about what’s wrong with monstrosity and you may find yourself trapped,
you -- yes, you -- and how that shapes the monster unable to flee through the masses when the hunters
you’ll become. bash down the gates.
Vampire is also about thrilling action and nail-
biting paranoia. It’s about dying young and being a
great-looking corpse. It’s about acting out in all of the Old + New
ways we imagine we would, if only we couldn’t see Established 1856. That’s what the firm’s sign says.
ourselves in the mirror. The owner was established 1856, too, even though
Vampire is a game about dead people and it should his sharp-cut suit was made tomorrow. He’s one of
make you feel alive. your guys. One of the sharks you swim with.
The Kindred are the real predators of the modern
Themes age. They’re hip to our tricks but they’ve got a hundred
years of history behind them. You’re one of them. So,
Vampire is built on contrast, taking place in a congratulations: you are the child-stealer, the plague-
World of Darkness with blinding whites and pitch bearer and the faceless corporate titan sucking the life
black. Characters try to stay in the cool, comfortable out of your own hometown.
grays, but they can’t hide all the time. And, hey, they
look good in black.
Piety + Blasphemy
Requiem + Masquerade How did you get to be what you are? Were you
What are you going to do to make it through a good girl, dragged kicking and screaming from
tonight? What about tomorrow night? And after the heaven? Or a bad boy, brought back from the grave
deeds are done and your belly’s full, how are you ’cause hell didn’t deserve you?
going to live with yourself? What are you going to Little of both, probably.
do with your damnation that makes it worth all the Somebody cheated death to bring you back, and
sins along the way? now you have to make up the debt. You can devote
That’s the Requiem. yourself to faith and good works. Play philanthropist.
Only half the question, though. Mortals are Play superhero. Or you can accept that you’re damned
dinner but they’re also what you’ve got for dates. No and get the party started. Piss on the cross. Get some
matter how callous you become, you’ll need to move head.
among them. How will you keep your connection to Little of both, probably.
Humanity, even as a sham?

4 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start


How to use this book
Reap the Whirlwind is an introduction to
Vampire: The Requiem which previews Vampire:
The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle.
Vampire: The Requiem is a reimagined core
rulebook for Requiem, containing a complete set of
overhauled rules and a brand new setting. It replaces
the original Requiem core book and is standalone.
Reap the Whirlwind is divided into two parts.
• Life After Dark (p. 6) contains all the rules you
need to create your own vampire and play the
included story.
• Into the Void (p. 39) presents an adventure that
kicks off with the unthinkable: murdering the
Prince of your city. And then things get crazy.
Together, these give you an exciting look into the
world of Vampire, a world like our own, but sexier,
glitzier, and much, much bloodier.
Vampire: The Requiem 5
 Life After Dark
Character Creation
Step One: Concept
Come up with a basic concept for your character.
Pick an Aspiration -- something your character hopes
to gain from the Prince’s death.
Step Two: Attributes
Prioritize categories. They receive 5/4/3 dots,
distributed among the primary, secondary, and
tertiary categories.
Step Three: Skills
Prioritize categories. They receive 11/7/4 dots,
distributed among the primary, secondary, and tertiary
categories.
Step Four: Add Kindred Traits
Choose clan, covenant, Mask, Dirge, and
Disciplines.
Set Blood Potency to 3. This enables your character
to hold up to 12 Vitae and spend up to 3 of it per turn.
Set Humanity to 5.
Step Five: Advantages
Willpower is equal to Resolve + Composure.
Humanity is 7. Size is 5. Health is Size + Stamina +
Resilience. Speed is Size + Strength + Dexterity. Defense
is the lower of Dexterity and Wits, plus Athletics.
Clan
Choose the clan to which your vampire belongs. A clan
is an extended family of vampires, with common powers
and sometimes common personality traits. Sometimes,
ty work together. But they’re family, so… that’s not always
the case.
6 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
Daeva
Hungry, passionate, seductive. The ones you die
for.
Disciplines: Celerity, Majesty, Vigor
Gangrel
Primal, hardy, feral. The ones you can’t kill.
Disciplines: Animalism, Protean, Resilience
Mekhet
Quiet, cunning, knowing. The ones watching
you sleep.
Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Obfuscate
Nosferatu
Unsettling, mysterious, fearsome. The ones you
fear.
Disciplines: Nightmare, Obfuscate, Vigor
Ventrue
Unflappable, domineering, confident. The ones
who win.
Disciplines: Animalism, Dominate, Resilience
Covenant
Choose a covenant to which your character
belongs. Covenants are groups of vampires who
take a similar approach to life after death; a
combination of political party and support group.
The Carthian Movement applies mortal solutions to
immortal problems with modern and experimental
government.The Circle of the Crone venerate the
Mother of Monsters and the old ways. The Invictus
safeguard the Masquerade with old world tradition,
cutting edge intelligence gathering, and ruthless violence.
The Lancea et Sanctum are the twisted conscience
of the Kindred, and keep the secret history of vampires.
The Ordo Dracul seek to turn vampiric Damnation
into monstrous Transcendence.
Disciplines
Pick four dots of Disciplines. Three must be from
Disciplines belonging to your character’s clan. This
book covers only the first two dots of each Discipline.
• Animalism: The ability to communicate and
command animals.
• Auspex: Sight beyond sight.
• Celerity: Inhuman speed.
Rules of the Night
The Basics
When your character tries to accomplish something
or avoid danger, you roll dice to determine the
outcome. The dice you’ll use are ten-sided, and you’ll
roll a pool of them based on your character’s relevant
traits. For example, to punch someone in the face,
you might add your Strength Attribute of 3 to your
Brawl Skill of 2 and pick up five dice.
When you roll the dice, each one that comes up
8, 9, or 10 is a success. Usually, you only need one
• Dominate: The ability to control the mind.
• Majesty: The power to sway emotions.
• Nightmare: The power to harness terror.
• Obfuscate: Powers of invisibility and distraction.
• Protean: The power to change shape.
• Resilience: Immense toughness.
• Vigor: Impossible strength.
success to accomplish what you intended, but more
are always better. (Especially if you’re trying to hurt
someone -- successes add to damage in combat.)
Any die that comes up a 10 counts as a success, but
re-roll it, potentially adding another success. In fact,
if it comes up 10 again, roll it a third time, and so on.
Many rolls will have modifiers, ranging from -5 to
+5, but usually within the range of -2 to +2. These
reflect circumstances that make your character’s action
easier or harder. You add or subtract the appropriate
number of dice from your pool before rolling.
Life After Dark 7
 If modifiers reduce your dice pool to zero, you roll
a single die, called a chance die. A chance die counts
as a single success if it comes up 10. Any other result
is a failure, and a 1 is an automatic dramatic failure.
There are a few different kinds of success and
failure:
Success: Your character’s action goes off as
planned. (Or almost as planned.) Achieved by having
one or more dice come up greater than or equal to 8.
Failure: Your character’s action fails. Sometimes,
that means nothing happens, other times it means
complications are on the way. This occurs when none
of your dice are successes.
Exceptional Success: Your character’s action
succeeds beyond her expectations. This is achieved
when you roll five or more successes. Your character
also gains the Inspired Condition. She can take this
for herself or, if appropriate to the story, give it to
another player’s character.
Dramatic Failure: Your character’s action fails
badly... and things are probably going to get worse.
This is suffered under two circumstances. The first,
and less common, is when you roll a 1 on a chance
die. More often, you’ll choose to turn a regular
failure into a dramatic failure. When you do that,
you get a Willpower point, which can make a big
difference down the road. (In the full game, rather
than Willpower, you get points which help you
improve your character.)
Willpower
Willpower represents a character’s determination
to carry through and see her desires fulfilled.
Spending a point of Willpower adds three dice to
most dice pools. Only one point of Willpower can
be spent in this way on a single action.
Types of Actions
Most actions are instant. They take place in a relatively
small space of time. In a fight, an instant action takes
up your turn.
An action can also be reflexive, something your
character barely has to think or act to do. Reflexive
actions can happen at any time, and don’t take your turn.
Some actions are contested. These work just like
instant actions, except you’re rolling dice for your
8 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
character against another player or the Storyteller
rolling dice for theirs. In a contested action, victory is
achieved by rolling more successes than the opposing
player. Contested actions only take the turn of the
player who initiated the contest.
Characters can use teamwork on a single action.
One character is the primary actor, and her player
assembles her dice pool as normal. For example,
Dexterity + Medicine to administer first aid.
However, anyone assisting rolls the same pool first.
Their successes become bonus dice on the primary
actor’s roll. Obviously, some kinds of action lend
themselves better to teamwork than others.
The Passage of Time
We’ve talked about turns, periods of about three
seconds each. The game’s tracked in turns when in
combat or other time-critical situations.
The second important measure of time is the
scene. Scenes are an abstract measurement of time,
lasting roughly long enough to take care of all of
the action the characters want to take part in in a
particular place.
Characters
Characters are made up of a set of traits. Some of
them are numbers, others are descriptors that have
an effect on other game mechanics.
• Attributes are raw potential.
• Skills are trained areas of expertise.
• Advantages cover things like how fast a
character moves or how much Willpower she
can bring to bear.
• Disciplines are the monstrous powers of the
dead.
Attributes
Attributes are a character’s innate capabilities.
They’re rated from one to five, and come in three
categories: Physical, Mental, and Social. They
determine the power a character can apply to a task,
the finesse with which he can perform it, and his
resistance to harm and interference by others.
Mental Attributes Skills can also have Specialties, which contribute
an extra die when relevant. For example, a character
• Intelligence: Your character’s ability to recall with the Drive Skill might focus on trucks, giving
information, form plans, or solve puzzles. him +1 when behind the wheel of a big rig.
• Wits: Your character’s ability to think on her feet
and improvise. Mental Skills
• Resolve: Your character’s raw determination. Mental Skills are applications of a character’s
insight, acumen and focus, such as examining a crime
scene for clues, unraveling an enigma or diagnosing
Physical Attributes an illness. If your character tries to use a Mental Skill
• Strength: How much your character can lift, she doesn’t possess, take a -3 penalty.
and how hard he hits. Academics: Academics is a broad-based Skill that
represents a character’s degree of higher education
• Dexterity: How fast your character can react
and general knowledge in the Arts and Humanities—
physically, and how deft her movements are.
everything from English to history, economics to law.
• Stamina: Your character’s ability to suffer Computer: All characters can perform basic tasks
physical stress and power through obstacles. with a computer, such as using office programs or
social networking sites. Characters possessing this
Social Attributes Skill have the necessary training or experience to
operate a computer beyond the level of a normal
• Presence: Your character’s assertiveness and user. With 1 dot, a character can program at a casual
raw appeal. level or replace hardware components in a desktop
• Manipulation: Your character’s ability to computer. At 2 dots, the character is a moderately
appeal to the desires of others and get them skilled programmer. At 3 or more, he’s qualified for
to cooperate. work on major software applications. People with this
Skill are often familiar with a variety of programming
• Composure: Your character’s poise, and languages and operating systems.
ability to keep apparently calm under pressure. Crafts: Crafts represents a character’s training
or experience in creating works of physical art or
construction with his hands, from paintings to car
Skills engines to classical sculpture. Characters possessing
While Attributes represent innate ability, Skills this Skill typically have the knowledge, but not
represent abilities trained and honed over years. necessarily the tools or facilities to make use of their
They’re also rated one to five. capabilities. A character might be an exceptional
mechanic, for example, but still needs to sweet-talk
Skill Dots Proficiency Level her boss into opening up the garage after hours to
work on her friend’s car.
• Novice. Basic knowledge or
Investigation: Investigation is the art and science
techniques.
of solving mysteries, examining seemingly disparate
•• Practitioner. Solid working evidence to find a connection, answering riddles
knowledge or techniques. and overcoming paradoxes. It not only allows your
••• Professional. Broad, detailed character to get into the head of a killer to grasp his
knowledge or techniques. motives or plans, it allows her to look beyond the
•••• Expert. Exceptional Depth of mundane world to guess at answers to mysterious
knowledge or techniques. problems, or to have a “eureka” moment that offers
insight into baffling circumstances.
••••• Master. Unsurpassed depth of
Medicine: The Medicine Skill reflects a character’s
knowledge or techniques. A
training and expertise in human physiology and
leader in the field.
how to treat injuries and illness. The trait represents

Life After Dark 9

 knowledge of human anatomy and basic medical
treatments. Characters with a low level in this Skill
(1 to 2) often possess only rudimentary first-aid
training, while characters with high levels (3+) are
the equivalent of nurses, physicians or surgeons.
Occult: The Occult Skill reflects a character’s
knowledge and experience with the world’s various
legends and lore about the supernatural. A character
with this Skill not only knows the theories, myths
and legends of the occult, but can generally discern
“fact” from rumor.
Politics: Characters possessing this Skill are not
only familiar with the way the political process
works, they’re experienced with bureaucracies and
know exactly who to call in a given situation to
get something done. Your character keeps track of
who’s in power and how she got there, along with
her potential rivals.
Science: This Skill represents your character’s
understanding of the physical and natural sciences:
biology, chemistry, geology, meteorology, physics and
so on. Science is useful not only for understanding
how the world works, but it helps characters make the
most of the resources at hand to achieve their goals.
Physical Skills
Physical Skills are applications of a character’s
might, endurance and coordination, such as
climbing a mountain, driving a car or shooting
a gun. If your character tries to use a Physical
Skill he does not possess, take a -1 penalt y.
Athletics: Athletics encompasses a broad category
of physical training, from rock climbing to kayaking
to professional sports. The Athletics Skill can be
applied to any action that requires prolonged physical
exertion or that demands considerable agility or
hand-eye coordination. Examples include climbing
a high wall, marching long distances and leaping
between rooftops.
In combat, the Skill is combined with Dexterity
to determine the accuracy of thrown weapons, and
is also factored into your character’s Defense.
Brawl: Brawl defines your character’s prowess at
unarmed combat, whether he’s a black belt in karate,
a hard-bitten street tough or a college student who’s
taken a few self-defense courses. Characters with
this Skill know how to hit an opponent, where to hit
for maximum effect and how to defend themselves
from attack.
10 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
In combat, Brawl is combined with Strength for
unarmed attacks.
Drive: The Drive Skill allows your character
to operate a vehicle under difficult or dangerous
conditions. Characters don’t need this Skill simply
to drive a car. It’s safe to assume in a modern society
that most individuals are familiar with automobiles
and the rules of the road. Rather, this trait covers
the training or experience necessary to operate at
high speeds, to tackle hazardous road conditions and
to push a vehicle to the limits of its performance.
Drive is the difference between a typical suburban
parent with a minivan and a police officer, car thief,
or racecar driver.
Firearms: Firearms allows your character to
identify, operate and maintain most types of guns,
from pistols and rifles, to military weapons such as
submachine guns, assault rifles, and machine guns.
This Skill can represent the kind of formal training
provided to police and the military, or the basic,
hands-on experience common to hunters, criminals
and gun enthusiasts. Firearms also applies to using
bows. Your character can use guns and bows equally.
In combat, Firearms is combined with Dexterity
to make ranged attacks.
Larceny: Larceny is a broad Skill that covers
everything from picking locks to concealing stolen
goods and everything in between. Most characters
obtain this Skill the hard way, by committing crimes
and often paying the price for their mistakes. Some
individuals such as government agents and members
of the military receive formal training in bypassing
security systems and stealing valuable assets.
Stealth: The Stealth Skill represents a character’s
experience or training in avoiding notice, whether by
moving silently, making use of cover or blending into
a crowd. When attempting to sneak silently through
an area or to use the local terrain as concealment,
roll Dexterity + Stealth + equipment. When trying
to remain unseen in a crowd, Wits + Stealth is
appropriate.
Survival: Survival represents your character’s
experience or training in “living off the land.” He
knows where to find food and shelter, and how to
endure harsh environmental conditions. The more
capable your character is, the fewer resources he
needs in order to prevail.
Weaponry: As the name implies, the Weaponry
Skill represents your character’s experience or
training in fighting with everything from beer bottles
to pipes, knives to swords. While formal instruction
in Weaponry is uncommon (restricted to military and
law-enforcement training and a few martial arts), any
character who has grown up on the street or spent a
lot of time in seedy bars has had ample opportunity
to learn this Skill.
In combat, Weaponry is added to Strength to make
armed attacks at close range.
Social Skills
Social Skills are applications of your character’s
bearing, charm and poise, such as negotiating with
a bank robber, wooing a crowd or telling a faultless
lie. If your character tries to use a Social Skill he does
not possess, take a -1 penalty.
Animal Ken: Anticipating and understanding
human emotions is one thing, but being able to
interpret and recognize the behavior of animals is
something else entirely. Your character intuitively
grasps or has been trained to read animals to know
how they react to situations. The Skill also involves
innately understanding how the animal mind
operates, and what may appease or enrage beasts.
Empathy: This Skill represents your character’s
intuition for reading people’s emotions. For some, it’s
a matter of observing body language and nonverbal
cues. Others employ an extraordinary sense that
helps them divine a person’s true mood. As the
name implies, Empathy also involves the capacity to
understand other people’s views and perspectives,
whether your character agrees with those positions
or not.
Expression: Expression reflects your character’s
training or experience in the art of communication,
both to entertain and inform. This Skill covers both
the written and spoken word and other forms of
entertainment, from journalism to poetry, creative
writing to acting, music to dance. Characters can
use it to compose written works or to put the right
words together at the spur of the moment to deliver
a rousing speech or a memorable toast.
Intimidation: Intimidation is the art and
technique of persuading others through the use of
fear. Your character can intimidate someone with
a show of brute force (Strength + Intimidation),
through more subtle means such as verbal threats
(Manipulation + Intimidation), or simply through
menacing body language (Presence + Intimidation).
It can be used to get other people to cooperate (even
against their better judgment), back down from a
confrontation, or reveal information that they’d
rather not share.
Persuasion: Persuasion is the art of inspiring or
changing minds through logic, charm or sheer, glib
fast-talking. Persuasion is the Skill of convincing
Life After Dark 11
 others by force of personality alone, making one’s
point through carefully chosen words, body language
and emotion.
Socialize: Socialize reflects your character’s ability
to interact with others in a variety of situations, from
chatting people up at bars to comporting himself
with dignity at state dinners. This Skill represents
equal parts gregariousness, sensitivity, etiquette and
custom. Knowing how to make friends is no less
important than understanding how to treat guests
in formal situations.
Streetwise: Characters possessing this Skill
know how life on the streets works and are adept at
surviving by its harsh rules. Streetwise characters
can gather information, make contacts, buy and sell
on the black market, and otherwise make use of the
street’s unique resources. The Skill is also important
for navigating urban dangers, avoiding the law, and
staying on the right side of the wrong people.
Subterfuge: Subterfuge is the art of deception.
Characters possessing this Skill know how to lie
convincingly, and they recognize when they’re being
lied to. Subterfuge is used when telling a convincing
falsehood, hiding one’s emotions or reactions, or
trying to pick up on the same in others. The Skill is
most often used to trick other people, but characters
also learn it to avoid being tricked themselves.
Advantages
Characters possess a few inherent Advantages
used in play.
Health: Determines the overall amount of physical
harm a character can suffer, and how that harm
affects their performance.
Defense: A character’s ability to avoid being hurt
in violent confrontations.
Speed: Determines the number of yards or meters
a character can move in a turn without sacrificing
their instant action.
Initiative Modifier: Affects when a character takes
his turn in combat.
Size: An adult human has a Size of 5.
Anchors
Vampires are no longer human, but they yet
have ties to the world. These anchors, whether they
provoke the vampire to humane actions or cruel ones,
12 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
reinforce her sense of self, and give her the strength
to carry on. Accordingly, each anchor provides ways
to refill the vampire’s Willpower.
(Mortals have Virtues and Vices -- moral strengths
and weaknesses -- in place of these anchors.)
Mask
The Mask is the face a vampire wears before
his prey. It’s the immaculately groomed executive,
the long-haired guru, or the cute hipster with the
black-rimmed glasses. A vampire’s Mask allows
her to operate in human society, without the herd
recognizing her presence.
Any time a vampire overcomes a small hurdle
in defense of her Masquerade, she gains a point
of Willpower. When committing atrocious or
existentially risky acts in defense of her Masquerade,
she regains all her spent Willpower points.
Example Masks:
• Artist
• Priest
• Junkie
• Investigator
• Scholar
• Socialite
• Child
Dirge
The Dirge is a vampire’s “life” among the Damned.
The enforcer with the calloused fists, the preacher
of dark salvation, the martyr who longs to atone. A
vampire’s Dirge is who she is in the dark... and to
the people who dwell there.
Any time a vampire withdraws from the false
life of his Mask and into the world of the Damned,
she gains a point of Willpower. When committing
terrible, damning acts in defense of one’s personal
identity, she regains all her spent Willpower points.
Example Dirges:
• Courtesan
• Enforcer
• Horror
 • Manipulator
• Prophet
• Martyr
• Nomad
Merits
Merits are special distinctions that give characters
access to abilities or resources. Merits relevant to this
book are included with the appropriate character
descriptions.
Disciplines
Disciplines are the disturbing powers of the
Kindred, ranging from controlling hearts and minds
to moving in the blink of an eye. Many are fueled by
Vitae, the stolen blood that clots in Kindred veins.
Discipline powers are included with the appropriate
character descriptions.
Action
Combat
Vampires affect civility. Among the prey, they may
even affect innocuousness. But the truth is, they’re
creatures of violence. They want and they take and
they hurt. And that gets them into fights.
Combat starts when two or more people who are,
ninety percent of the time, rational individuals, fail
to come to an agreement, and come to blows instead.
Violence, for vampires, is generally a means to an end.
The first step in starting combat, then, is to
determine what everybody wants. You don’t have to
be formal about it... just make sure you know why it
is the characters are in this fight.
After that, start tracking time in turns. At the start
of the turn, each player rolls Initiative. Unlike a normal
roll, Initiative is a single die, the result of which you add
to your character’s Initiative Modifier. (A character’s
weapon may also add or subtract from Initiative.)
After that, players choose actions for their
characters in Initiative order, highest to lowest.
When a character’s turn comes up, they can perform
one of the following actions.
Attack
A character can lash out blindly, or take careful
aim. When your character attacks somebody, roll one
of the following dice pools.
Unarmed Combat: Strength + Brawl - victim’s
Defense
Melee Combat: Strength + Weaponry - victim’s
Defense
Ranged Combat: Dexterity + Firearms
Thrown Weapons: Dexterity + Athletics - victim’s
Defense
Judge the attack roll the same as any other action.
The damage inflicted by a successful attack is equal
to the successes on the attack roll plus the weapon’s
damage bonus. See “Injury,” below.
Dodge
A character can also sacrifice their action to dodge.
In this case, double the character’s Defense rating,
but don’t subtract it directly from attacker’s dice pool.
Instead, roll the doubled Defense as a dice pool and
subtract the successes from the attacker’s successes.
Willpower may be spent to increase a dodge roll.
Ranged attacks can’t be dodged.
Injury
Fists and feet deal bashing damage. Weapons, like
brass knuckles and knives, crack skulls and pierce
lungs. To mortals, they deal lethal damage. Vampires
only suffer bashing damage from mundane weapons,
since they’re less fazed by pain and don’tdepend on
their internal organs. Vampires still suffer lethal
damage from massive bodily destruction, like being
hit by a truck.
A special type of damage, aggravated damage, is
only suffered by vampires when they’re exposed to
their great banes, fire and sunlight. Each vampire
suffers aggravated wounds differently. Flesh may turn
brittle and burn like paper. Tissue may bubble and
stink. Blackened veins may streak across the victim’s
body. Foamy pustules may taint the area around the
injury. Aggravated wounds appear as manifestations
of the natural world violently eliminating something
that does not belong.
If a mortal’s health track is filled with bashing
damage, he falls unconscious. If it fills with lethal,
he dies within minutes. If a vampire’s health track is
Life After Dark 13
 filled with bashing damage, he remains conscious. If
it fills with lethal, he falls into torpor. If it fills with
aggravated damage, he suffers the Final Death, and
his body rapidly decays to the point it would have if
it had been left to rot when he was first Embraced.
Marking Damage: When a character suffers
damage, the player marks off that number of Health
points, starting with the box under the leftmost dot
of his Health trait and proceeding left to right. The
symbol used depends upon the type of damage.
Bashing damage is marked with a slash (/) in the
first available empty box. So imagining that Thomas
(who has seven Health dots) had just taken one
point of bashing damage, his Health boxes would
look like this:
Lethal damage is marked with an X, and it pushes
any existing bashing damage right on the track (so
that it always appears to the left of bashing damage).
If Thomas next took a point of lethal damage, his
track would be:
Aggravated damage is marked with a large asterisk
(*) by adding a vertical bar to an X. It also pushes
any existing lethal and bashing damage right on the
track (so that it always appears to the left of lethal or
bashing damage). If Thomas next suffered a point of
aggravated damage, his track would be:
No More Health: Marking off a character’s last
Health box usually means the character has become
incapacitated. If that rightmost wound is bashing,
he falls unconscious. If that rightmost wound is
lethal or aggravated, the character quickly bleeds
to death. Note that this would mean the character
has no bashing damage at all, since it will always be
the rightmost. These are the rules for humans… see
below for vampires.
Additional Damage: An unconscious or severely
battered person can still be damaged by further
attacks. Without further Health boxes to mark off,
you represent this damage by upgrading existing
14 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
wounds. Any new bashing wound upgrades an
existing bashing wound to lethal (make the leftmost
/ into an X), while new lethal damage can upgrade
older wounds to aggravated (make the leftmost X
into an asterisk). Additional aggravated damage
also converts a point of bashing or lethal damage to
aggravated (make the leftmost / or X into an asterisk).
Healing:  Mortals recover from damage with rest
and medical attention. Left to heal naturally, characters
recover one point of bashing damage every 15 minutes,
one point of lethal damage every two days, and one
point of aggravated damage every week. Lost Health
is recovered from right to left on the character sheet.
For vampires, spending a single point of Vitae heals
two bashing damage, or one lethal damage. A single
aggravated wound requires five Vitae and a full day’s
sleep. Aggravated damage is the only type of wound
that leaves a scar on Kindred.
Conditions
Conditions are (usually temporary) states that
affect what your character can do. For example, your
character might defeat a complex security system
with ease and be Inspired by her exceptional success.
A Condition typically consists of a modifier in the
+2 to -2 range to a certain type of action, or actions
taken with a certain motivation. Larger modifiers
are rare, but exist.
Conditions are resolved and removed when the
character’s done something significant to act on the
Condition or addressed the original source. The
sample Conditions here have example resolution
Conditions, but you can also resolve them after other
events if it just makes logical sense.
When a character resolves a Condition, she gains
a point of Willpower. For certain Conditions, if
a Condition biases her towards a certain type of
behavior... say, a Reckless Condition that encourages
her to throw caution to the wind, she also gains a
point of Willpower.
You’re encouraged to make up Conditions to fit events
in your game. They’re little reminders of how what’s gone
before influences character abilities and behavior.
(In the Vampire: The Requiem and Chronicles of
Darkness rulebooks, Conditions help your character
gain experience, rather than replenishing her Willpower.
These books also contain many more sample Conditions.)

INSPIRED
Your character is deeply inspired. When your
character takes an action pertaining to that
inspiration, you may resolve this Condition. An
exceptional success on that roll requires only three
successes instead of five.
Common Causes: An exceptional success, a
comrade delivering a stirring call to arms.
Resolution: You spend inspiration to spur
yourself to greater success, resolving the Condition
as described above.
Willpower: n/a
WANTON
Your character wants, for the sake of wanting. He’s
distracted with temptations of excess and indulgence.
Any Composure or Resolve rolls to resist temptation
suffer a -2 penalty. As well, the character that brought
forth this Condition achieves exceptional success on
three successes instead of five, when making any rolls
to tempt your character. This could apply to Majesty
rolls as well as mundane social rolls.
After resolving Wanton, your character cannot
be subject to this Condition again for a full month.
Common Causes: A seductive predatory aura
conflict, a failed Detachment roll
Resolution: Indulge in something that constitutes
a breaking point (see Humanity, p.15)
Willpower: n/a
CHARMED
You’ve been charmed by a vampire’s supernatural
force of personality. You don’t want to believe that
anything he says is a lie, and you can’t read his true
intentions. The vampire adds his Awe successes to
Manipulation rolls against you, and any rolls you
make to detect his lies or uncover his true motives
suffer a penalty equal to his Awe successes; any
supernatural means you use to detect his lies become
a Clash of Wills.
You want to do things for the vampire, to make him
happy. If he asks, you’ll do favors for him like he was one of
your best friends — giving him a place to crash, lending him
your car keys, or revealing secrets that you really shouldn’t.
You don’t feel tricked or ripped off unless you resolve the
Condition. It expires normally (without resolving) after
one hour per dot of the vampire’s Blood Potency.
Common Causes: The Majesty Discipline.
Resolution: The vampire attempts to seriously
harm you or someone close to you, you make a
significant financial or physical sacrifice for him.
Willpower: You divulge a secret to or perform a
favor for the vampire.
COMPETITIVE
Your character must assert dominance and superiority.
Either she gives it her all, or she falters. Any time she’s in
direct competition with another character, she suffers -2
on any rolls where she doesn’t spend Willpower. This
includes contested rolls. As well, any rolls to tempt or
coerce her into competition achieve exceptional success
on three successes instead of five.
After resolving Competitive, your character cannot
be subject to this Condition again for a full month.
Common Causes: A challenging predatory aura
conflict, or a failed Detachment roll.
Resolution: Win or lose a competition where
someone reaches a breaking point
Willpower: n/a
DOMINATED
A vampire has given your character a specific
command that she cannot go against. You don’t have
a choice whether or not to follow the command — your
will is no longer your own. If your task has a natural end,
such as “Follow that man until he enters an apartment
then call me with the address,” you resolve the condition
once you complete it, otherwise it ends at sunrise. Once
you resolve this condition, you can’t quite remember
what happened while you were under the vampire’s spell.
Common Causes: The Dominate Discipline
Resolution: Take more bashing or lethal damage
than your Stamina. Follow the vampire’s command.
Willpower: N/A
Life After Dark 15
 FRIGHTENED
Something’s scared you to the point where you lose
rational thought. Maybe you’ve just looked down at
a hundred-story drop, or seen a tarantula the size of
your fist crawling up your leg.
Whatever the case, you need to leave right the hell
now. Your only priority is getting the fuck away from
the thing that’s frightened you — the hell with your
stuff, your friends, and your allies. If someone tries
to stop you escaping, you’ll attack them. You can’t
approach the source of your fear or act against it —
and if the only way out involves going near the source
of your fear, you’ll collapse on the ground in terror.
Supernatural creatures prone to loss of control,
including vampires, must roll to avoid frenzy.
This Condition lasts until the end of the scene;
suppressing its effects for a turn costs a point of
Willpower.
Common Causes: The Nightmare Discipline
Resolution: The character escapes from the source
of his fear.
Willpower: N/A
Laws of the Dead
Tricks of the Damned
The Blush of Life: Normally, a vampire’s body
maintains only a semblance of human function. She
has no pulse, her body is room temperature, and her
eyes always look a little dry. Solid food is disgusting
to her, and results in immediate vomiting.
However, by spending one Vitae, she can counterfeit
life. She doesn’t really feel alive (that’s something most
vampires experience only while feeding), but her
heart pumps, her flesh warms, and she’s persuasive
enough to pass the most personal inspections.
Kindred Senses: As nocturnal predators, vampires
can see in the dark better than humans. Storytellers
are encouraged not to apply vision-based penalties
against them. The vampire’s sense of smell is attuned
to the scent of blood. She can smell the presence of
blood from about ten yards per dot of Blood Potency
without rolling. If she’s tasted a particular human’s
blood, she can add her Blood Potency to any rolls to
16 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
MESMERIZED
Your character’s will is subordinate to that of a
vampire. You’re not obviously hypnotized — you’re
a bit quiet and reserved compared to normal, but
nothing out of the ordinary. When the vampire
who inflicted this condition gives you a command,
you cannot resist. If it’s something that you wouldn’t
normally do, you might look like you’ve been
hypnotized or that you’re sleepwalking, but otherwise
you look and act normally.
Once you resolve this condition, gain 3 dice to
resist further attempts to Mesmerize you in the
same scene; you also can’t quite remember what
happened while you were under the vampire’s spell.
This Condition fades naturally after a scene.
Common Causes: The Dominate Discipline.
Resolution: Take any amount of bashing or lethal
damage.
Willpower: N/A
track him by scent. Kindred blood does not offer this
advantage, since it’s mostly old, dead, and its smell is
a blend of all the vampire’s recent victims.
Predatory Aura: As rival predators, vampires
know their own. By touch, by sight, by smell.
This awareness is called the predatory aura. In
a social situation or a confrontation, a vampire
can manipulate her aura to try and provoke a
fight-or-f light response from the other party.
A vampire can make her aura take on the feel of a
Monstrous Beast, who wants to rend and destroy; a
Seductive Beast, who offers blasphemous intimacies,
or a Challenging Beast, who seeks control.
She lashes out, rolling Blood Potency and one of
three Attributes: Strength (for the Monstrous Beast),
Presence (for the Seductive Beast), or Intelligence
(for the Challenging Beast). The defender has two
choices: fight or flight.
If he fights, he rolls Blood Potency plus the
Attribute appropriate to the Beast he’s countering
with. Whoever rolls more successes inflicts the
Condition associated with their Beast on the loser.
The winner also gets +2 to pursue actions associated
with the theme of their chosen Beast for the rest of
the scene. (Mortals can’t inflict a Condition.)
Fighting costs a Willpower point for the defender
if his Blood Potency is less than the aggressor’s.
If he flees, he withdraws from the situation. In a
social setting, this might mean making a convenient
excuse. He takes the Condition associated with the
aggressor’s Beast.
The Monstrous Beast inf licts the Bestial
Condition, the Seductive Beast inflicts Wanton,
and the Challenging Beast inflicts Competitive.
Physical Intensity: Vampire tales speak of
creatures stronger and faster than anything humans
could strive to. With Vitae, any Kindred can
accomplish massive bursts of physical prowess. By
spending a point of Vitae, he may add two dice to
rolls involving his choice of Strength, Dexterity,
or Stamina for the turn. This does not increase
traits derived from these Attributes. However, it
will increase relevant resistances. For example, a
Strength increase will reduce an opponent’s rolls to
grapple him.
Healing: Vampire flesh wants to return to the
moment of its death. Vampires can heal as described
on p. 14.
Feeding
This is the moment it all turns on. The moment
when a vampire’s teeth sink into the flesh of someone
who fears her or trusts her or doesn’t even know she’s
there. The moment she tastes his blood. The moment
she start to feel alive again.
Vampires call it the Kiss.
Human blood is best warm, from the living.
Kindred can pull a number of Vitae from a mortal
equal to the mortal’s unmodified Health dots. Every
point of Vitae she takes causes one point of lethal
damage.
Humans have different reactions to being fed from.
The victim of a savage attack may suffer lingering fear,
while a donor who gave himself willingly succumbs to
a pleasant languor. These reactions are explored  in
more detail in Vampire: The Requiem.
Life After Dark 17
 Daysleep and Waking Humanity Base Duration

Kindred sleep by day. As they dream long, slow 10 One night

dreams, they appear truly dead to any observer. At 9 Two nights
sunset, they come shuddering to life again. 8 One week
When something disturbs a slumbering vampire 7 Two weeks
or puts her at risk, roll her Humanity. On a success,
she wakes. 6 One month
Waking, either normally or because the character’s 5 One year
slumber is interrupted, costs one point of Vitae. If 4 Five years
the vampire can’t pay this cost, she falls into torpor. 3 Ten years
2 Fifty years
Torpor 1 100 years
When starved or grievously wounded, a vampire 0 250 years
falls into torpor, unable to rise during at night -- or
any other time. As a vampire’s heart becomes less
human and her blood becomes more potent, the Fire
duration of torpor increases. Multiply her Blood Fire represents humanity’s defiance against the
Potency by the chart below. dark, and the things that dwell there. It is therefore
Torpor can also be caused by a stake through the inimical to the Kindred.
heart. In that case, the torpor ends as soon as the To determine how much damage a fire does per
stake is removed. In combat, an attempt to pierce a turn, add the base damage for size to the damage
character’s heart is a Weaponry attack with a -3 penalty. modifier for heat.
The attack must cause five damage to pierce the heart.

18 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start

 Size of Fire Base Damage Frenzy
Torch 1
The Beast is anger, fear, temptation. And most of
Bonfire 2 all, it is hunger. When provoked strongly enough,
Inferno 3 the Beast can overwhelm a vampire’s Humanity.
This raging storm of instincts has the vampire’s best
interests at heart, but it doesn’t much plan and it
Damage
certainly doesn’t care who gets hurt.
Heat of Fire Modifier
W hen the vampire is ex posed to st rong
Candle (first-degree burns) 0 provocations, such as fire, injury to a loved one,
Torch (second-degree burns) +1 or the sight of that loved one’s bleeding wounds,
Bunsen burner he must fight to remain in control. Roll Resolve
(third-degree burns) +2 + Composure. On a success, the vampire’s human
Chemical fire/molten metal +3 side stays in the driver’s seat. On a failure, he enters
frenzy.
When in a frenzy, a vampire acts on the feeling
Sunlight that provoked the frenzy. He does so free of moral
restraint or long-term planning. He remains smart
The sun gives life to the world. The Kindred, not enough, though, that he can act effectively to fulfill
truly alive, must shun it. Sunlight burns them... and his desires, and cautious enough to minimize risk to
as they begin to truly embrace their inner predators, himself. Frenzy isn’t suicide.
as the concept of human sin and even Humanity itself
Frenzy lasts until the end of a scene, until another
means less to them, it burns all the more.
character calms the Beast with a Manipulation +
The type and amount of damage inflicted by Empathy roll, or until the Beast has satisfied its rage,
the sun is determined by the vampire’s Humanity. fear, or hunger.
The frequency with which the damage occurs is
determined by his Blood Potency.
Humanity Dots Damage Type Humanity
7-10 1 lethal Vampires are not human. They were, once, but now
6 2 lethal they’re something entirely different. However, to blend
5 3 lethal in with mortals, to walk among the flock, Kindred
must maintain perspective and understanding of their
4 1 aggravated
former existences. Humanity reflects this perspective.
3 2 aggravated Vampires that maintain high Humanity scores live
2 3 aggravated side-by-side with mortals, and can relate to the living.
1 4 aggravated Vampires with low Humanity scores grow distant and
alien, and lose sight of who they once were, and more
0 5 aggravated
importantly, who they prey upon.
When a vampire faces (or self-inflicts) trauma that
Blood Damage calls her Humanity into question, she hits a breaking
Potency Dots Frequency point, and must roll to resist Detachment. We’ve
1 Half-hour listed some sample breaking points. In general, a
2 Ten minutes vampire must roll when she reaches a breaking point
3 One minute tied to her current Humanity or lower.
If she fails the Detachment roll, she gains one
4 One turn
of the three Conditions also associated with the
5-6 2x / turn predatory aura: Bestial, Wanton, or Competitive.
7-8 3x / turn Description of how each Humanity level affects
9-10 5x / turn the vampire follows.

Life After Dark 19

 Ascetic (Humanity 9-10): A rare vampire with this
degree of Humanity goes out of her way to immerse
herself in mortal affairs, and to feed sensibly. She’s
poised and confident in her dealings, she’s an expert
in the way humans behave, feel, and think. Gain +2
to any rolls to relate to humans.
Humane (Humanity 7-8): Most vampires in this
range of Humanity are either very good at maintaining
their attachments, or they’re very new to the Danse.
She has little difficulty blending in with humans.
She remembers with perfectly clarity what mortal
life was like. She remembers the way food tasted. She
remembers the way sweat felt across her skin. She feels
pain for those hurt by her actions and those of her kind.
Balanced (Humanity 5-6): At this point, she’s been
around the block. Most neonates and some ancilla
fall into this range. She’s seen pain and anguish as
result of her condition, and is beginning to accept it
as part of existence. She still has no issue relating to
mortals; she just recognizes that she’s never going to
be one again. She’s selfish, and lies like second nature.
Take -1 in any roll to relate to humans.
Weathered (Humanity 4): A weathered Kindred
has seen more death and devastation than most
mortals will in a lifetime. Most ancilla fall into this
range of Humanity. While not spree killers, most
Kindred at this level have taken lives, and understand
that they probably will again in order to guarantee
continued survival. They see humans as fragile and
temporary. Take -2 in any roll to relate to humans.
Callous (Humanity 3): At this level, a callous
Kindred maintains a cynical and jaded world
perspective. He’ll step over anyone and anything in
the name of survival, and humans are little more than
tools. Most elders fall into this range. By this point,
Humanity takes its toll, and the vampire appears
deathly and pallid. This appearance isn’t unnatural,
per se, but it makes humans uncomfortable. Take -3
in any roll to relate to humans.
Monstrous (Humanity 2): A monstrous Kindred is
barely recognizable as human, unless he’s specifically
acting the part and using the blush of life. He’s
short-tempered, selfish to a fault, and will kill to suit
minor interests and petty desires. Not only does he
have difficulty dealing with people, he doesn’t want
to. Most of the mortals in his life are servants and
feeding stock, viewed as resources at best. Take -5 in
any roll to relate to humans.
Animalistic (Humanity 1): A Kindred this close
to the Beast barely registers as sentient most of the
20 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
time. She can speak and interact just like anyone
else, but she chooses not to. Every action is a step
toward the next meal; nothing but blood is worth her
time. While she could fake humanity with a bit of
blood, she can’t be bothered, and instead looks like
a corpse, a statue, a morbid doll. She’s a menace, and
crowds part when she walks through. Your character
cannot relate to humankind. Any such rolls use only
a chance die.
Draugr (Humanity 0): A character that reaches
zero Humanity dots becomes draugr, lost to her
Beast. She becomes ravenous and animalistic, no
longer able to interact with society—Kindred or
mortal. Draugr are forever lost to their monstrous
natures; only the vaguest rumors suggest they can be
redeemed. In most cities, the authorities kill draugr
immediately and without mercy.
Common Actions
Here are some sample ways you can apply your skills.
Remember, you can invent your own at any time.
ARGUMENT
(INTELLIGENCE + EXPRESSION
- VICTIM’S RESOLVE)
You try to sway someone with a rational argument.
(If arguing with a crowd, use the highest Resolve in
the crowd.
• Dramatic Failure: You convince them of quite
the opposite.
• Failure: They listen, but are ultimately unaffected.
• Success: They accept the truth (or apparent
truth) of your words.
• Exceptional Success: They’re convinced,
and become a recruit to your point of view.
Though they might change their minds if they
find themselves at risk.
CAROUSING
(PRESENCE + SOCIALIZE
OR STREETWISE)
You mix with a group, bringing high spirits with
you and using them to loosen tongues.
 Humanity Examples
Humanity 10 (Five Dice) Humanity 5 (Three Dice)
One night without human contact. Two weeks without human contact.
Lying in defense of the Masquerade. Reaching Blood Potency 3.
Spending more than one Vitae in a night. Death of a mortal parent, sibling, or cousin.

Humanity 9 (Five Dice) Humanity 4 (Two Dice)

Watching humans eat a meal. Impassioned violence.
Committing a superhuman feat of physical Spending a year or more in torpor.
prowess. Surviving a century.
Feeding from the unwilling or unknowing. Accidentally killing. Taking a leadership role in
Urging another’s behavior with a Discipline. a covenant.
Spending an hour in the sun. Learning a dot of Crúac.

Humanity 8 (Four Dice) Humanity 3 (Two Dice)

Creating a ghoul. One month without human contact.
Rejected by a human. Reaching Blood Potency 6.
Riding the wave of frenzy. Death of a mortal spouse or child.
Taking another’s consent with a Discipline. Impassioned killing.
Spending most of a day in the sun.
Humanity 2 (One Die)
Humanity 7 (Four Dice) One year without human contact.
One week without human contact. Premeditated killing.
Surviving something that would hospitalize a Seeing a culture that didn’t exist when you
human. were alive.
Injuring someone over blood. Surviving 500 years.
Creating a revenant.
Humanity 6 (Three Dice)
Falling into torpor. Humanity 1 (Zero Dice)
Feeding from a child. One decade without human contact.
Reading your own obituary. Surviving something Heinous, spree, or mass murder.
that would kill a human.

• Dramatic Failure: A faux pas reveals that you FAST-TALK

don’t belong... and maybe even hints at your (MANIPULATION + SUBTERFUGE
supernatural nature. - VICTIM’S COMPOSURE)
• Failure: You end up a wallflower, with a drink
in your hand that you don’t even want. You may not be able to win the argument with
facts, but you can try to get out of trouble with a
• Success: You make a single-serving friend, who
little judicious spin.
might be willing to pass secrets or go with you
somewhere private. • Dramatic Failure: The other party has a good
idea what the truth is.
• Exceptional Success: You make a friend you
can contact again • Failure: The other party doesn’t believe you.
• Success: The other party swallows your story.

Life After Dark 21

 • Exceptional Success: The other party believes
you so thoroughly that they’re even willing
to offer a little aid... though they won’t put
themselves at any kind of risk.
INTERROGATION
(MANIPULATION + EMPATHY OR
INTIMIDATION - VICTIM’S RESOLVE)
You try to dig secrets out of a reluctant informant.
• Dramatic Failure: The informant is alienated
or injured beyond the point to which he will
reveal information.
• Failure: The informant blabs a mix of truth
and falsehood -- even he may not know the
difference.
• Success: You get the information you were
looking for.
• Exceptional Success: You get the information you
were looking for, and the informant is willing to
continue cooperating.
INTIMIDATION
(STRENGTH OR MANIPULATION +
INTIMIDATION - VICTIM’S
COMPOSURE)
You try to get someone to do what you want by
making them afraid of you.
• Dramatic Failure: They don’t take you
seriously, even if you knocked them around a
bit. They won’t be doing what you want.
• Failure: They’re unimpressed with your
threats.
• Success: They’re coerced into helping you.
• Exceptional Success: They develop a lasting
fear of you, which could make them easier to
coerce in the future.
INVESTIGATING A SCENE
(INTELLIGENCE + INVESTIGATION)
You look for clues to what’s happened in the recent
past... or tidy up so that no one else can find them.
22 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
• Dramatic Failure: You find clues, but you
contaminate them, or you leave evidence of
your presence.
• Failure: You find evidence, but it’s damaged
and hard to interpret. Or you miss a spot in
your cleanup that you won’t find out about
until later.
• Success: You find a clue of exactly the sort
you need, or manage to significantly confuse
future investigators.
• Exceptional Success: You find a clue, and know
exactly how it fits in, or you leave the scene
immaculate and impossible to decipher.
REPAIR
(INTELLIGENCE + CRAFTS)
You try to fix something that’s broken down.
• Dramatic Failure: The broken object’s a lost
cause. It’ll never work again.
• Failure: You’re stymied by the problem, but
could come back to it in another scene.
• Success: You get the thing working... for now.
• Exceptional Success: The object works better
than before. It won’t break again anytime
soon.
RESEARCH
(INTELLIGENCE + ACADEMICS OR OCCULT)
Using your existing knowledge, you look for
information on a current mystery.
• Dramatic Failure: You learn something, but it
doesn’t help. In fact, it sets you back. If using
Occult, it might also give you nightmares.
• Failure: You turn up a lot of promising leads,
but they’re all dead ends.
• Success: You find the basic facts you were
looking for.
• Exceptional Success: You find what you were
looking for, and leads towards a much bigger
score of information.
 SHADOWING A MARK
(WITS + STEALTH OR DRIVE)
You follow someone, perhaps in the hopes of
ambushing them, or of finding out their destination.
• Dramatic Failure: You’re caught, either by
the mark or some observer that’s become
suspicious of you.
• Failure: The mark senses he’s being followed,
and manages to lose you.
• Success: You follow the mark to his destination.
• Exceptional Success: You find some means
by which you can continue following the
mark, such as an unlocked entrance into the
building he arrived at.
SNEAKING
(DEXTERITY + STEALTH)
You’re trying to avoid notice by someone... or
multiple someones. Maybe you want to get into a
place undetected. Maybe you’re trying to break out.
• Dramatic Failure: You attract a lot of
attention... enough that now it’s going to be
hard to get out.
• Failure: You’re noticed, but still have the
chance to slip away.
• Success: You avoid notice and get closer to
your goal.
• Exceptional Success: You avoid notice and
get away before anyone has another chance
to catch you.
Life After Dark 23
 Combat Summary Chart
Stage One: Intent
• The players and the Storyteller describe what
their characters want out of the fight.
• Decide whether characters can surrender and
can become Beaten Down.
Stage Two: Initiative
• Everyone rolls Initiative: the result of a die roll
+ Dexterity + Composure. If the character has
a weapon readied, apply its Initiative Modifier.
Stage Three: Attack
• Unarmed Combat: Strength + Brawl - victim’s
Defense
• Melee Combat: Strength + Weaponry -
victim’s Defense
• Ranged Combat: Dexterity + Firearms
• Thrown Weapons: Dexterity + Athletics -
victim’s Defense
A character’s Defense is normally subtracted from
any attack dice pools where it applies. If she chooses to
Dodge, the defender rolls her Defense as a dice pool
against each attack. Each success reduces the attacker’s
successes by one. If the attacker is reduced to zero
successes, the attack does nothing. If the attacker has
successes remaining, add any weapon modifier to the
number of successes to determine how many points
of Health the target loses. All weapons deal lethal
damage to humans, bashing to vampires.
Stage Four: The Storyteller describes the
attack and wound in narrative terms.
Possible Modifiers
• Aiming: +1 per turn to a +3 maximum (aiming
takes a character’s action for a turn)
• All-Out Attack: +2 with Brawl or Weaponry
attack; lose Defense
• Armor Piercing: Ignores amount of target’s
armor equal to item’s rating
24 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
• Autofire Long Burst: 20 or so bullets, no target
limit pending Storyteller approval. A +3 bonus
is applied to each attack roll; –1 per roll for each
target after the first
• Autofire Medium Burst: 10 or so bullets at
one to three targets, with a +2 bonus to each
attack roll; –1 per roll for each target after the
first
• Autofire Short Burst: Three bullets at a single
target with a +1 bonus to the roll
• Concealment: Barely –1; partially –2;
substantially –3; fully, see “Cover”
• Cover: Subtract 2 from damage for light cover,
4 from damage for heavy cover
• Dodge: Double Defense, roll as a dice pool
with each success subtracting one from the
attacker’s successes
• Drawing a Weapon: Requires instant action
• Firing from Concealment: Shooter’s own
concealment quality (–1, –2 or –3) reduced by
one as a penalty to fire back (so, no modifier,
–1 or –2)
• Offhand Attack: –2 penalty
• Prone Target: –2 penalty to hit in ranged
combat; +2 bonus to hit when attacker is
within close-combat distance
• Range: –2 at medium range, –4 at long range
• Shooting into Close Combat: –2 per
combatant avoided in a single shot (not
applicable to autofire); –4 if grappling
• Specified Target: Torso –1, leg or arm –2, head or
heart –3 (requiring 5 successes), hand –4, eye –5
• Surprised or Immobilized Target: Defense
doesn’t apply
• Touching a Target: Dexterity + Brawl or
Dexterity + Weaponry; armor may or may not
apply, but Defense does apply
• Willpower: Add three dice or +2 to a Resistance
trait (Stamina, Resolve, or Composure) in one
roll or instance
 Ranged Weapons Chart
Type Dmg Ranges Clip Initiative Strength Size Example
Revolver, lt 1 20/40/80 6 0 2 1 SW M640
(.38 Special)
Revolver, hvy 2 35/70/140 6 −2 3 1 SW M29
(.44 Magnum)
Pistol, lt 1 20/40/80 17+1 0 2 1 Glock 17 (9mm)
Pistol, hvy 2 30/60/120 7+1 −2 3 1 Colt M1911A1
(.45 ACP)
SMG, small* 1 25/50/100 30+1 −2 2 1 Ingram Mac-10
(9mm)
SMG, large* 2 50/100/200 30+1 −3 3 2 HK MP-5 (9mm)
Rifle 4 200/400/800 5+1 −5 2 3 Remington M-700
(30.06)
Assault Rifle* 3 150/300/600 42+1 −3 3 3 Stery-AUG (5.56mm)
Shotgun** 3 20/40/80 5+1 −4 3 2 Remington M870
(12-gauge)
Crossbow*** 2 40/80/160 1 −5 3 3

Damage: Indicates the number of bonus successes added to a successful attack. Firearms deal lethal
damage against ordinary people. The type of damage may vary against supernatural opponents.
Ranges: The listed numbers a short/medium/long ranges in yards. Attacks at medium range suffer a −1
penalty. Attacks at long range suffer a −2 penalty.
Clip: The number of rounds a gun can hold.  A “+1” indicates that a bullet can be held in the chamber,
ready to fire.
Initiative: The penalty taken to Initiative when wielding the gun.
Strength: The minimum Strength needed to use a weapon effectively. A wielder with a lower Strength
suffers a −1 penalty on attack rolls.
Size: 1 = Can be fired one-handed; 2 = Must be fired two-handed and can be hidden in a coat; 3 = Can
be fired two-handed but not hidden on one’s person
* The weapon is capable of autofire, including short bursts, medium bursts, and long bursts.
** Attack rolls gain the 9-again quality
*** Crossbows take three turns to reload between shots. A crossbow can be used to deliver a stake through the
heart (–3 penalty to attack rolls; must deal at least 5 damage in one attack)

Size
Size Object/Creature Size Object/Creature
Human infant, pistol 1 Gorilla 6
Sword 2 Grizzly bear 7
Human child 3 2-seat sports car 10
Wolf, spear 4 SUV 15
Adult human, Door 5 Dump truck 20

Life After Dark 25

 Melee Weapons Chart
Type Damage Initiative Strength Size Special
Sap 0 −1 1 1
Brass Knuckles 0 0 1 1 Uses Brawl to attack
Baton 1 −1 2 2 n/a
Crowbar 2 −2 2 2
Tire Iron 1 −3 2 2 +1 Defense
Chain 1 −3 2 2 • Grapple
Shield (small) 0 −2 2 2 Concealed
Shield (large) 2 −4 3 3 Concealed
Knife 0 −1 1 1 •
Rapier 1 −2 1 2 •• Armor piercing 1
Machete 2 −2 2 2
Hatchet 1 −2 1 1 •
Fire Ax 3 −4 3 3 •• 9-again, two-handed
Chainsaw 5 −6 4 3 9-again, two-handed
Stake* 0 −4 1 1 n/a
Spear** 2 −2 2 4 +1 Defense, two-handed

Type: A weapon’s type is a general classification that can apply to anything your character picks up. A
metal club might be an antique mace, a metal baseball bat, or a hammer, while a hatchet might be a meat
cleaver or an antique hand-ax.
Damage: Indicates the number of bonus successes added to a successful attack. Weapons always deal
lethal damage.
Initiative: The penalty taken to Initiative when wielding the weapon. If using more than one weapon,
take the higher penalty and increase by 1.
Strength: The minimum Strength needed to use a weapon effectively. A wielder with a lower Strength
suffers a -1 penalty on attack rolls.
Size: 1 = Can be hidden in a hand; 2 = Can be hidden in a coat; 3+ = Cannot be hidden.
Concealed: A character who wields a shield but doesn’t use it to attack can add its Size to his Defense, and
uses its Size as a concealment modifier against ranged attacks.
Grapple: Add the chain’s weapon bonus to your dice pool when grappling.
Two-handed: This weapon requires two hands. It can be used one-handed, but doing so increases the
Strength requirement by 1.
* A stake must target the heart (–3 penalty to attack rolls) and must deal at least 5 damage in one attack.
** The reach of a spear gives a +1 Defense bonus against opponents who are unarmed or wield weapons
of Size 1.

26 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start

 Armor
Type Rating Strength Defense Speed Coverage
MODERN
Reinforced clothing* 1/0 1 0 0 Torso, arms, legs
Kevlar vest* 1/3 1 0 0 Torso
Flak Jacket 2/4 1 −1 0 Torso, arms
Full Riot Gear 3/5 2 −2 −1 Torso, arms, legs
ARCHAIC
Leather (hard) 2/0 2 −1 0 Torso, arms
Chainmail 3/1 3 −2 −2 Torso, arms
Plate 4/2 3 −2 −3 Torso, arms, legs

Rating: Armor provides protection against normal attacks and Firearms attacks. The number before the
slash is for general armor, while the number after the slash is for ballistic armor. Reduce the number of
damage levels your character takes by the appropriate number.
Strength: If your character’s Strength is lower than that required for her armor, reduce her Brawl and
Weaponry dice pools by 1.
Defense: The penalty imposed on your character’s Defense when wearing the armor.
Speed: The penalty to your character’s Speed for the armor worn.
Coverage: The areas of a character protected by the armor. Unless an attacker targets a specific unarmored location
(“Specified Targets”, above), the armor’s protection applies. Wearing a helmet increases the armor’s coverage to include
a character’s head.
* This armor is concealed, either as normal clothing (e.g. biker leathers) or being worn under a jacket or
baggy shirt. Attackers have no idea the target is wearing armor until after they land a successful hit.

Life After Dark 27

 Disciplines
The Kindred wield strange powers — a vampire
could sway men’s minds, vanish from plain sight, or
manifest her victim’s worst nightmares. These powers
come unbidden in the vampire’s blood, and call on not
just his human mind but the Beast hidden just under
the surface. The Beast walks unseen through the world
of men and cows lesser animals. It slips the bonds of
flesh and inspires awe and jealousy from other people.
Animalism
A vampire’s Beast is not just a facet of her predatory
nature, but a predator in and of itself — and it is top of
the food chain. A Kindred can slip the leash of her Beast
just a little to overpower weaker animals, forcing her will
on them. Most Animalism powers affect predators and
scavenging animals. In a city, the Kindred can call on
feral cats and dogs, pigeons and crows, foxes and more
rats than anyone suspects. Rural vampires can summon
bats, wolves, mountain lions, and even bears — any
animal that feasts on the flesh of another.
Feral Whispers •
To those she would command, a vampire must
first make herself understood. So it is with beasts
as well as men. A vampire using Feral Whispers
overpowers the animal’s instinctive reactions and
forces it to understand. She can ask questions of a
creature and it must respond as best it can, and with
a further slight nudge, she can compel it to obey her.
A canny vampire can use magpies and crows to spy
on her victims from above, or command a gangster’s
mastiffs to savage their owner.
The vampire talks to the animal, either using human
words or by making animal sounds of her own. She can
command groups of animals, such as a flock of birds or
a swarm of rats, as long as she is close enough that the
animals can all hear her, and she can see all of them.
Cost: None
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Animal Ken +
Animalism
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The victim misunderstands the
vampire’s command, giving false information when
28 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
the vampire asks, or obeying a twisted version of the
vampire’s command.
Failure: The animals fear the Beast, fleeing from
a superior predator.
Success: You can communicate with an animal,
asking it what it has perceived. Most animals can
remember what has happened over the last night.
Animals relate what they have encountered through
the lens of their own perceptions — dogs answer in
terms of smell and hearing, while birds relate what
they could see. The vampire can also give the victim
a simple command, equivalent to what the animal
could do on its own, such as “attack him,” “follow her
then return here,” “chew through these cables.” The
command doesn’t normally persist for more than a
night, but the vampire can add simple contingencies
such as forcing the beast to go to ground if noticed,
or to return once the command is complete.
Exceptional Success: The animal is exceptionally
obedient to the vampire, improvising to follow the
spirit of the kindred’s command.
Raise the Familiar ••
If a vampire needs an animal servant, death is no
obstacle. This Discipline raises a creature from the dead
as her servant, infusing it with her Vitae and making it
more obedient to her will. The undead creature looks
like it did when it died, but can still function — a coyote
crushed by an SUV has a tire track running across it but
no crushed bones, and a crow with a busted wing has
bone jutting out of the wound but can still fly. It doesn’t
act like a normal animal — it doesn’t hunt for food, nor
is it spooked by loud noises. It sleeps throughout the day,
but becomes active at night. Even a human observing
such an animal can tell something’s wrong, but most
don’t take the time to look.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Requirement: Feed 1 Vitae to the corpse (included
in cost)
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
The vampire feeds one point of Vitae to the
animal’s corpse. The animal returns to a semblance
of life for a number of nights equal to (Blood Potency
x animal’s Stamina). Once she has raised a beast, a
vampire can feed it more Vitae; each point ensures
the animal’s continued unlife as though the vampire
had just raised it.
The raised creature gains a semblance of
intelligence and a certain low cunning, enough to
follow complex orders that most animals could not
understand, and to interpret the spirit of commands
rather than the letter. Treat the familiar as having
one dot of Intelligence.
Infused with Vitae, the familiar takes bashing
damage from attacks like a vampire, and does not
fall unconscious or bleed out. Unlike a vampire, the
familiar continues to decompose.
The Vitae burning within the animal’s dead veins
forges a sympathetic link it and the vampire. The
vampire can use Feral Whispers on her familiar at
any time, over any distance, communicating silently
or issuing commands at any range. Though she
must still roll to see if her familiar interpreted her
command, the animal does not resist.
Auspex
Auspex turns the Beast’s predatory instincts
loose on secrets, finding points of weakness and
hidden gems that the vampire can exploit to his
advantage. Auspex is an internal Discipline, revealing
information to a Kindred through visions that range
from the direct to the hallucinatory. Other vampires
have no way to know when someone is using Auspex
to discover their secrets, and for that reason many
Mekhet feel the stares and whispered barbs of other
vampires who worry what secrets the clan of shadows
will uncover next.
It’s easier for a vampire to use Auspex on another
person if he’s spent some time in intimate contact with
her. The contact doesn’t need to be sexual, any period
of platonic physical contact is enough. Digging a bullet
out of someone’s side — or carefully severing her arm —
reveals her secrets to Auspex. Intimate contact gives a
bonus to the vampire’s roll equal to his Auspex rating.
Beast’s Hackles •
The Beast focuses on danger and weakness. A
vampire who borrows his Beast’s senses can use
that focus to know if someone is about to attack
her, or to pinpoint the weakest person in the room.
The Beast is sensitive to things that other people
cannot normally see; using this Discipline can pierce
Obfuscate with a contested Blood Potency + Auspex
vs. Blood Potency + Obfuscate roll.
Life After Dark 29
 Cost: Varies; the first use in a scene is free, but
subsequent uses in the same scene cost 1 Vitae each.
Dice Pool: Wits + Empathy + Auspex
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The player asks a question as
though he had rolled a success; the Storyteller should
give false or misleading information.
Failure: The vampire’s senses cloud; his Beast
doesn’t see any immediate point of weakness.
Success: The player can ask one question of the
Storyteller. The Storyteller’s answer should include
the imagery conjured by the Beast to convey the
answer. This level of Auspex can only answer
immediate questions about danger or weakness;
the sample questions below cover much of the
information the Beast can provide.
Exceptional Success: The player can ask two
questions.
Sample Questions
• Who here is the most likely to give me what I
want? Blood throbbing through the victim’s
jugular vein. The sound of jingling coins from
the victim’s pocket.
• Who/what here is most likely to lapse into
violence? The victim’s hands stained with
blood. The smell of gunpowder wafting from
the victim.
• Who here is most afraid? The smell of urine
from the victim’s pants. A whimpering sound
from the victim.
• Who/what here is most likely to hurt me?
Blood drying on a car crusher. Waves of hot
rage boiling off the victim.
• Who here is closest to frenzy? The victim’s
face twists into a frenzied rictus. The taste of
hot bile when facing the victim.
• Is a vampire here using Auspex •••••? A pall
of grey smoke hanging in the air. A feeling like
someone walked over the vampire’s grave.
Uncanny Perception ••
The vampire focuses on a single victim, peeling
back the layers of lies and misdirection to the truth
underneath. The Beast sniffs out the victim’s dark secrets,
30 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
things that she doesn’t want anyone else to know. What
the vampire does with that information is up to him.
Cost: Varies; the first use in a scene is free, but
subsequent uses against the same target that scene
cost 1 Vitae each.
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Empathy + Auspex
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The player asks a question as
though he had rolled a success; the Storyteller should
give false or misleading information.
Failure: The Beast unveils no secrets. Does the
victim really have nothing to hide?
Success: The player can ask the Storyteller one
question per success. The Storyteller’s answer should
include the imagery conjured by the Beast to convey
the answer. This level of Auspex focuses on questions
the secrets and weaknesses of a single character.
Exceptional Success: The images give the vampire
further insight into the questions asked.
Sample Questions
• What is this person’s mood? A flash of emotion
on the victim’s face. A smell that the vampire
associates with the emotion — the smell of fresh
blood signifying rage, the sound of grinding stone
signifying isolation.
• What is this person afraid of right now? Shock
as lights suddenly shine on the victim. The sound
of dogs barking.
• What is this person’s Vice/Requiem? The
whispering sound of conspiracy. The smell of drugs
wafting off a junkie.
• What is one of this person’s Derangements?
A sudden feeling of incredible depression. Shifting
walls and colors as if in a hallucination.
• Is this person a diablerist? The smell of brimstone
and clotted blood. Thick black blood dripping off
the victim’s chin.
• Is this person being controlled by someone
else? Marionette strings leading from the victim’s
limbs up to the ceiling. A whispered voice that tells
the victim what to do as she acts.
• Is this person a supernatural creature — and if
I have seen them before, what is she? The taste
of torn flesh. The glowing halo of a mage’s nimbus.
 • Who here does this person want to hurt most?
A bloody dagger drops from the victim’s hand,
pointing to the answer. The taste of bile when
looking at the target of the victim’s ire.
Celerity
Vampires can cross vast distances in the blink of
an eye, catch a thrown punch before their attacker
has even moved a muscle, or snatch a gun barrel away
from a man’s temple before he can pull the trigger.
Celerity makes a vampire so fast that it’s as if she
never has to move at all.
Cost: None (or 1 Vitae per effect)
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
Duration: Turn or permanent
Like other physical Disciplines, Celerity has two
types of effects: passive and active. Passive effects are
“always on.” Active effects require Vitae to be spent
and actions to be used.
Passive: Add the vampire’s dots in Celerity to her
Defense, and to the Wits or Dexterity + Athletics
roll when defending actively. Celerity also permits
feats of evasion far beyond human reflexes, such as
dodging gunshots. Any time a Firearms or Athletics
attack denies the character her normal Defense, the
attacker takes a penalty on the attack equal to her
celerity rating. The vampire must still be aware of
an incoming attack, and capable of evasion for the
benefits of Celerity to apply. If she is restrained,
slumbering, or otherwise unable to respond, Celerity
offers no advantage.
Active: By spending a point of Vitae for each
effect, the vampire may reflexively do one or more
of the following.
• Immediately move to the head of the initiative
queue. If this function is employed as an
opening move, before combat begins, it is
still necessary to roll initiative, despite being
assured to act first. This boost in initiative
lasts only a single turn, after which point
characters return to acting in the rolled order.
If multiple vampires attempt to jump ahead
simultaneously, they roll Blood Potency +
Celerity and act in order of their results.
• Spend her own action to interrupt the action
of another character. This may be an attack,
making it possible to disarm or damage an
opponent in the instant before they act.
It may be a movement, which allows the
vampire to dodge harm merely by shifting out
of reach. The decision to interrupt is made
after another character’s intended action is
declared, but before it actually occurs (i.e.
before they roll). Once the interrupt action
is taken, the enemy must continue with their
action as declared, even if it is no longer viable.
Celerity cannot interrupt reflexive actions,
or actions of which the vampire is unaware.
Finally, a character may not interrupt more
actions in a scene than she has dots in
Celerity.
• Multiply her speed by her Celerity rating plus
one. For example, a character with two dots
of Celerity and a Speed of 9 has an effective
27 Speed for the turn. Moving in this way is
sudden, jarring, the vampire appears to move
from point to point without crossing the space
in-between. This can therefore be activated to
briefly avoid detection or to launch sudden
surprise attacks.
Dominate
The Beast demands obedience from lesser creatures.
It slips into the Kindred’s voice, modulating his tone
and his words to control anyone it can. It progresses
from the simple barked commands of a guard dog or
a drill sergeant to creating false memories of whatever
the vampire desires — or letting her steal her victim’s
body to walk in the sunlight once again.
Mesmerize •
All a vampire has to do is meet her victim’s eye to
catch him in her thrall. Her control isn’t obvious;
she just asks him to do something and her victim
acquiesces. He could unlock a door, pass her a gun
— or forget ever meeting her. Some cruel vampires
mesmerize passers-by just to take the rap for their
crimes.
Cost: None
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Expression + Dominate
vs. Resolve + Blood Potency
Action: Instant
Life After Dark 31
 Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The victim sees through the
vampire’s attempt to control his mind, emboldened,
he gains the Steadfast Condition.
Failure: The vampire’s victim proves stronger-
willed than she’d thought.
Success: The vampire holds her victim’s gaze
for just a second, but it’s enough to inflict the
Mesmerized Condition.
Exceptional Success: Your control flows over the
victim’s brain like water. They want to do whatever
you say. You can issue a command in the same action
as mesmerizing your target.
Once she has inflicted the Mesmerized Condition,
the vampire can command the victim as an instant
action. Her commands can’t be longer than three or
four words, and she has to be direct — her control
doesn’t extend to issuing vague commands. “Follow
me,” “Shoot your husband,” and “Repeat after me…”
are all suitable commands, while “Forget,” “Submit,”
and “Do my bidding” have too much room for
interpretation. She can even mess with the victim’s
memory, making one statement about the current
scene that victim will remember as truth. While
she can still only use simple and unambiguous
commands, she can pack a lot of changes into four
words: “You killed that man” and “I was not here”
combine to frame the victim for murder.
Iron Edict ••
Once she’s got a hotline into her victim’s mind, the
vampire can take some time to play with his thoughts
and memories. While it takes more of her power to
relay complex commands, she goes from jerking her
victim’s strings to controlling him like a puppeteer,
making his ever movement dance to her tune.
Cost: 1 Vitae; none if victim is in Viniculum with
the vampire
Dice Pool: None
Requirement: The vampire must have inflicted
the Mesmerized Condition on the victim
Action: Instant
The vampire can issue a longer command to a
Mesmerized victim. This edict can be up to three
sentences long, and can include a successive series
of actions. The command takes two turns per
sentence. As with Mesmerize, the vampire’s control
32 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
doesn’t extend to commands that rely on the victim’s
interpretation. The victim takes the Dominated
Condition and will follow the vampire’s commands
as soon as she finishes speaking them. He continues
to follow the order until he has completed his task,
or the sun rises. A few Kindred use Iron Edict to
issue a simple command, such as “Obey my direct
instructions when I give them to you,” which
effectively gives them control over the minion for
longer than Mesmerize — though it doesn’t extend
the duration of the Mesmerized Condition.
Majesty
Majesty amplifies a vampire’s force of personality,
making people like him and want to make him happy
even though normally they wouldn’t give a shit about
him. They like him and want to be around him just
because it makes them feel good. Using Majesty isn’t
like leaning forward and slipping a command behind
a human’s eyes, it’s arranging the world so that people
will kill — or die — for his attention.
Awe •
Awe shines a spotlight on the vampire even in
a crowded room. He’s the most important person
around and people want to be around him. Awe
creates an aura of power, a sense that the vampire’s
important, like a billionaire playboy or a movie star.
He could be wearing tattered clothes, with open
wounds and his face caked in shit but people still
think he’s more important than them, and they want
to be around him.
Cost: None
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Sure, the vampire’s the center of
attention, but for all the wrong reasons. People think
he’s a boor or a slob, grabbing the limelight rather
than waiting for it to be shone upon him. For the rest
of the scene, he has a −2 penalty to all Social rolls.
Failure: The spotlight finds someone else, or the
vampire’s audience isn’t swayed yet.
Success: All eyes fall on the vampire, and nobody
cares what he’s doing. For the rest of the scene, he
suffers no penalties to Social rolls from his actions or
appearance — even if he’s just beaten another
man to death or waved a gun in a crowded
nightclub. Given a chance, he can talk his way
out of minor criminal offenses and almost
any social faux pas. As the center of attention,
he adds his Awe raiting to any Presence rolls
when talking to people around her. Anyone
paying attention to him subtracts his Awe
rating from any Wits + Composure rolls to
notice anything other than the vampire. With
a word, he can summon anyone in the room
to his side — not by any mystical compulsion,
but by making her aware that he wants her
to approach.
Exceptional Success: It feels good to have
people looking at him. The vampire regains
a point of Willpower.

Confidant ••
A vampire doesn’t have to shout to be
heard, and in a crowd that he’s already Awed,
sometimes speaking quietly is the best way
to get attention. With little more than a
soft voice and a knowing look, the vampire
brings someone new into the fold as a trusted
confidant.
Cost: None
Requirement: The vampire must have
used Awe on the victim.
Dice Pool: Presence + Empathy + Majesty
vs. Resolve + Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The vampire slips up,
letting some of what he wants the victim to
feel leak back into himself. He’s affected by
the Swooning Condition for the victim.
Failure: The victim doesn’t feel that she’s
worthy of joining the vampire’s inner circle
just yet.
Success: The vampire successfully charms
his victim. She gains the Charmed Condition.
Exceptional Success: It’s incredibly hard to
resist the force of the vampire’s personality.
The victim’s Charmed Condition lasts for
nights, rather than hours.

Life After Dark 33


Nightmare
The Beast doesn’t need fear. Fear is rational,
understandable — a reaction to a presented stimulus.
Any idiot can make people fear them. Nightmare
indulges the Beast’s desire to cause abject terror.
It starts slowly at first: just for a second, you see
a human face in the path of a circular saw. Your
keyboard feels unaccountably warm and fleshy, but
when you look down it’s fine. Walking down the
street the shadows fall at the wrong angles. You bump
into someone, an old friend from your childhood,
and all you can do is run and scream. You fall into
the arms of your wife, shaking and sobbing, but she’s
holding you too tight and she smells wrong. Your
daughter comes up behind you and sinks her teeth
into your thigh. You scream in pain and bolt out of
the door. Looking back, you see your daughter’s face.
Only then does the real terror begin.
Dread Presence •
Everyone around the vampire feels the world go
slightly wrong as she exudes a deeply unsettling
aura. Even if they barely notice her, they feel a wave
of fear and uncertainty. The world seems colder,
everything’s just that bit more distant. People feel
like someone’s watching them even when they’re
otherwise alone, and for just a second they see
horrible truths manifest in the world around them.
Cost: None
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
The vampire exudes an aura of fear for the rest of
the scene that gives her a number of benefits. She
adds her Nightmare dots to all mundane Intimidate
rolls. People around her subconsciously register her
as the cause of their fear, and they shy away from
her. Her victims can act against her but their hearts
aren’t in it — they can’t spend Willpower to bolster
their actions, though they can still use it defensively.
A Kindred can lash out against this aura of fear with
his Predatory Aura, if he succeeds, he isn’t affected
by Dread Presence.
As a reflexive action, the vampire can conjure
brief illusions. One person’s food looks rotten and
maggot-ridden, another raises her steak-knife but sees
a murder victim’s head on his plate. A woman reaches
for a doorknob but when she pulls her hand back it’s
34 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
covered in blood. These illusions can only affect two
senses each, and must be small — no larger than a small
dog, and no louder than a shout. They only last for
a turn or two at most, but they’re always unsettling.
The vampire chooses who can see each illusion, and
she can only project one at a time. Though equal
parts frightening and disgusting, the illusions cannot
themselves cause any harm or significant pain.
Face of the Beast ••
All it takes is a glance, and the vampire can
magnify one of his victim’s fears to truly horrifying
levels. If she knows what sort of things her victim
fears, she can choose to magnify that fear specifically,
otherwise, she inspires an unguided terror that flares
up in the victim’s heart without her knowing precisely
what he’s afraid of. Whatever the case, the victim
flees immediately.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Presence + Empathy + Nightmare vs.
Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Something goes wrong. Though
the victim sees visions of his fear made manifest, and
stares them down. He regains a point of Willpower.
Failure: The victim’s fear troubles him, but he
doesn’t flee
Success: The victim gains the Frightened
Condition. If the vampire activates Dread Presence,
she can designate himself as the source of the victim’s
fear.
Exceptional Success: The vampire gains a vision
of precisely what the victim is so afraid of. While this
has no mechanical advantage, it gives her something
else to exploit.
Obfuscate
The Beast is a hidden killer. It lurks just below
the surface, unnoticed by its prey until it’s too late.
Just another man in the street, entirely faceless. Just
another woman passing by. Why can’t you remember
what they looked like? One of them turns, and you
can’t quite see his face, but he’s walking towards you.
Another second and he’s grabbed you. His teeth sink
into your neck and all you can think is “why won’t
anyone do anything? Why won’t they help me?”
 Obfuscate is the reason you’ll never be sure that
you’re alone again.
Face in the Crowd •
The vampire can turn his Predatory Aura inwards,
walking through crowds of people who pay him no
heed. As long as he doesn’t do anything to obviously
draw attention to himself, nobody notices him.
He’s just one more person on the street, part of the
night-life of the city. People don’t shy away from him
because of what he’s wearing or what he looks like.
He’s just part of the city, like the rats and the graffiti.
Cost: None
Dice Pool: Wits + Stealth + Obfuscate
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Something about the way the
vampire walks or how he looks draws people to
him. He sticks out like a sore thumb. Anyone who
was present during the scene will remember seeing
him there.
Failure: The vampire’s no more a face in the crowd
than usual.
Success: For the rest of the scene, people’s eyes just
slide off the vampire. People can tell that someone’s
there, but they don’t remember who he is or what he
looks like; he’s just “some guy,” average height and
build, average hair, average clothes. Unless the vampire’s
doing something to draw people’s attention — pulling a
gun, or screaming at people — or he’s in a place where
someone doesn’t expect anyone else to be, everyone
around him ignores him. They don’t care what he’s
carrying; he could walk down the street with an assault
rifle strapped across his back or a body slung over his
shoulder, and as long as he doesn’t use them to draw
attention, nobody particularly cares or remembers. If
he’s violent towards someone — if he punches someone
or starts feeding in a crowded subway station — his
victim will notice but everyone else must score more
successes on a Wits + Composure roll than the vampire
did on his activation roll to notice the vampire. The
vampire’s Predatory Aura seemingly disappears so that
other vampires can’t sense it.
Exceptional Success: The vampire doesn’t stand
out to anyone watching, even if they’re looking at
photographs or video featuring him.
Touch of Shadow ••
With just a touch, the vampire can extend the
muted attentions of Face in the Crowd to an object
or animal, rather than himself. His subject fades out
— if he occludes a desk, people subconsciously register
that it’s there and won’t bump in to it, but they
can’t recognize what’s right in front of them unless
the vampire forces them to interact with it. Even a
forensic team would only remember seeing a desk
if they examined photos of the scene after the fact.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Requirement: The vampire must touch the object
he wants to occlude, in the case of an unwilling
victim, the vampire must roll to touch his opponent
(Dexterity + Brawl - opponent’s Defense). The
person or object cannot have Size greater than the
vampire’s own (but see Suggested Modifiers).
Dice Pool: Wits + Larceny + Obfuscate
Action: Reflexive
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Something draws people’s
attention to whatever the vampire wanted to hide.
It’s the first thing they notice when they come onto
the scene, and they want to find out more about it.
Failure: The object or creature doesn’t fade into
the background just yet.
Success: For the rest of the scene, people’s eyes slide
off the object. The vampire can affect an inanimate
object or animal with the same effects as Face in
the Crowd — people subconsciously register that the
subject is present, but they’re not actively aware of it. If
an observer is forced to deal with something affected
by Touch of Shadow — being thrown into an occulted
table or door, or bitten by an occulted dog — that
observer can then recognize the subject’s existence.
Since people have a hard time noticing occluded
objects, the vampire can hide behind an object
affected by Touch of Shadow to remain unnoticed.
In order to notice the occluded object, observers must
roll Wits + Composure and score more successes
than the vampire gained on his roll to activate Touch
of Shadow. A living creature affected by Touch of
Shadow can see anything else that the vampire has
Obfuscated without a roll.
Exceptional Success: The victim of this power
doesn’t stand out to any observer, even if they’re
looking at photographs or video featuring him when
the power was active.
Life After Dark 35
 Suggested Modifiers
-1 Increase the maximum affected Size by 1
-2 Increase the maximum affected Size by 2
-3 Increase the maximum affected Size by 3
Protean
Every vampire is one bad day away from giving in
to the Beast. Some keep the creature leashed within,
holding it back and only letting it out to prey on the
weak. Others indulge their Beast, reveling in their
descent from an undead thing yearning for its grave
to a force of savage power. A Gangrel who attains
the pinnacle of Protean becomes a formless creature,
nothing more than smoke and hunger.
Unmarked Grave •
With a silent command, the earth itself yawns
open to embrace the vampire. She merges with the
ground, becoming immune to almost any harm. She
can remain there indefinitely, waiting in a cocoon of
stone until the time is right for her to emerge. She
does not have to find stone or mud, she can just as
easily slip into concrete — as long as she has servants
willing to feed her while she rests.
Cost: Varies; 0 for soil or earth, 2 for concrete,
4 for metal
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
The vampire sinks bodily into the earth, for as
long as she desires. Once interred, she’s mostly
insensible to the outside world, though she can
remain conscious if she so wishes, and has a sense of
the ground above her — she’s well aware if someone
tries to concrete over her hiding place. Her Kindred
Senses continue to function, and she remains capable
of sensing the Predatory Aura. Her safe haven means
another vampire’s Predatory Aura can’t force her
into a fight-or-flight reaction. Should someone spill
blood or Vitae upon the ground, she can absorb it.
The ground dilutes Vitae enough that it can’t result
in a blood bond, but to a Vitae-addicted vampire
just the taste might be enough to drive her out of
the ground, thirsty for more.
The only way to harm the vampire is to damage or
destroy the ground she resides in; she takes one point
of bashing damage for each point of Structure that
36 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
her haven loses. When she takes her first point of
lethal damage she emerges from the ground, unable
to hold herself in.
Predatory Aspect ••
All the vampire has to do is give in just a little bit,
and her Beast can slip into her flesh, warping her
body into a monstrous form. While every Gangrel’s
Beast is different, the ways it manifests usually takes
inspiration from a predatory animal of some form.
Some twist their bodies to run on all fours like
a wolf, while others take on the rough scales and
electrosense of a shark.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
By spending a point of Vitae, the vampire can
manifest a small host of bestial traits. When she first
learns Predatory Aspect, she picks three adaptations
from the list below. From then on, she can manifest
any or all of these changes for the rest of the scene
by spending a point of Vitae.
If none of these adaptations make sense for the
character, the player and Storyteller should work
together to create new ones, using these as guidelines.
• Aquatic: Growing webbed hands or slick
scales, the vampire can swim at the same
Speed he can run on land.
• Claws: Sharp claws grow from the vampire’s
fingers. They give a +1 weapon modifier on
all Brawl attacks; as weapons, they deal lethal
damage to mortals.
• Enhanced Senses: Taking on a hawk’s eyes or a
dog’s sense of smell allows the vampire to hear
heartbeats and see or smell blood as though
his Blood Potency were two dots higher.
• Extra Sense: The Kindred grows extra sensory
organs, giving her tremor sense, echolocation,
or electroperception that allows her to ‘see’
without using her eyes, and that give her a
360-degree field of vision.
• Patagia: By growing a flap of leathery skin
between her arms and torso, the vampire can
glide — as long as she falls at least ten yards,
she can travel thirty yards horizontally, and
she takes no damage from the fall.
 • Prehensile Tail: The vampire grows a long,
prehensile tail. She can use it to grab things as
though it were an extra arm, though it doesn’t
have a hand and can’t be used for fine-motor
tasks like unlocking a door or firing a gun.
• Quadripedal: Longer arms and shorter legs
allow a vampire to run on all fours like a
cheetah or wolf. When running on all fours,
add +4 to her Speed and double all jump
distances.
• Climb: The vampire grows hundreds of insect
legs, claws on his feet, or tiny barbed hairs on
his body that allow him to move freely across
walls and ceilings without an Athletics roll.
A character can change her adaptations by
spending a day in her Unmarked Grave and spending
one point of Vitae for each adaptation she wants to
replace. When she changes adaptation, the player
should work to maintain the theme of a specific
predatory creature — though she may pick a different
predator to copy when the vampire’s adaptations
change.
Resilience
The Kindred are walking corpses, free of the
frailties of a mortal form. Their bodies are capable
of great endurance, but Resilience takes that
endurance beyond “great” and into “impossible.”
With Resilience a vampire could continue to act even
when his body has been reduced to little more than
bone and tendon.
Cost: None (or 1 Vitae per effect)
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
Duration: Turn or permanent
Like other physical Disciplines, Resilience has two
types of effects: passive and active. Passive effects are
“always on.” Active effects require Vitae to be spent
and actions to be used.
Passive:  Add the vampire’s resilience dots to his
Stamina. This can raise the character’s effective
Stamina above the normal limits imposed by his
blood potency. Additionally, whenever the character
receives aggravated damage, downgrade a number
of points of that damage to lethal before marking
it on his health track. This applies to all damage
Life After Dark 37
 from fire, as well as other acquired banes, but not
sunlight. Resilience offers no reprieve from the sun’s
blazing eye.
Active: By spending a point of Vitae for each effect,
the vampire may reflexively do one of the following.
Effects last until the start of the vampire’s next turn.
No effect of Resilience may be invoked more than
once in a scene.
• Subtract the character’s Resilience dots plus
one from all sources of damage other than
fire or sunlight. This is mechanically, but not
aesthetically, similar to armor. The vampire’s
flesh does not harden, nor do blades and
bullets bounce harmlessly away. Rather, the
vampire’s body operates despite grievous
injury. Even damage completely by Resilience
still leaves apparent wounds. Huge gashes,
shattered bones, and gaping holes are all
typical. Regardless of their apparent severity
such wounds do not inhibit the vampire.
These wounds remain until healed with Vitae
(a single point will do), or until the vampire
next slumbers.
• Subtract the character’s Resilience dots from
all damage suffered from fire (though not
sunlight). As with the previous features, visible
signs of damage remain. Even if a vampire
took no damage while dashing through an
inferno, they still emerge a blackened corpse.
Visible wounds remain as above.
38 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
Vigor
While all Kindred possess the power to bolster
their might in short bursts, Vigor allows some
vampires to kick like a freight train or rend steel with
their bare hands.
Cost: None (or 1 Vitae per effect)
Dice Pool: None
Action: Permanent (or Reflexive)
Like other physical Disciplines, Resilience has two
types of effects: passive and active. Passive effects are
“always on.” Active effects require Vitae to be spent
and actions to be used.
Passive: Add the character’s dots in Vigor to her
effective Strength rating.
Active: By spending a point of Vitae for each effect,
the vampire may reflexively do one of the following.
No effect of Vigor may be invoked more than once
in a scene. Effects last until the start of the vampire’s
next turn.
•Add his Vigor dots as a weapon bonus to
all Athletics, Brawl, and Weaponry attacks
made this turn. This can put enormous
strain on weapons, especially if the tool is
not one generally intended for heavy hitting.
Improvised weapons are likely to break after
a turn or two of this kind of use.
•Lift and hurl objects normally too unwieldy to
use as weapons, such as people and even cars.
Any object the vampire can lift, can be used
as an improvised melee or throwing weapon.
Improvised weapons have a weapon bonus
equal to their Size. Objects with Size greater
than five deal lethal damage to mortals, while
those with Size ten or more deal lethal even
to the kindred.
 Into The Void
This isn’t the end of the war. This isn’t the fall of the
Third Reich with Hitler painting the bunker walls with
his fucked-up brains—nobody’s going to cheer in the streets.
You’re not going to hear the Lollipop Guild doing its
rendition of “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead.” What you
did was kill the jailer. Sure, the warden was an asshole. But
he kept all us monsters in check. You didn’t think about
that, did you? Now he’s gone, the cages are all open, and
it’s time for the monsters to run free once more. We’re all
bad, bad people—do you really want to see what kind of
party we throw?
Introduction
At the top of it all, sitting comfortably at the zenith
of the city’s nocturnal hierarchy, is the Prince. The
Prince—in this city and others—represents an unholy
host of things to the vampires beneath him: The
Prince is oppression, the Prince is brutality, the
Prince is solipsistic self-interest, the Prince is hunger
and callousness and fascism. (Or, as the youngest
Kindred might say, “The Prince is a dick.”)
It’s all true, of course. The Prince represents all of
those things. He is a corrupt figure, not at all noble.
He is mired in his own desires. The Prince is lord
of those younger than him and bulwark against (or
slave to) those elders above him.
So everyone wants the Prince gone. The covenants
don’t like that he pushes his agenda above theirs. The
clans not represented by the Prince’s own lineage want
to see themselves on the pedestal of power. The elders
grow weary that this wicked upstart is a constant thorn
in their side, the ancillae see themselves as the bloated
and discarded middle class, and the neonates think…
well, they just think, “Fuck that guy.”
So it is that night after night, year after year,
whispers circle the city—carried forth by hollow
conspirators and chattering Harpies—of plans to kick
the pyramid out from under the Prince and let him
fall on his own sword (or stake, as it were).
Everybody talks about getting rid of the Prince.
Few, however, actually make it happen.
Maybe in their dead hearts and kinked-up bowels
lurks a glimmer of instinct that tells them the truth:
the Prince is a bastard and monster, yes, but he is also
the cork in a bottle. In the bell of that bottle lurks
a grim swarm of horror, and anybody who deigns
to pop that cork will find that the shadows within
are now the shadows without. The Prince has been
holding this city back from its own baser instincts
for decades now. Hasn’t anyone noticed the relative
stability, the continuing Masquerade, the unbroken
Elysium? Do they think that all happens magically on
its own? Nobody’s suggesting the Prince is a hero, but
to suggest that he doesn’t play his role is tantamount
to a child’s illusion.
And now somebody’s gone and fucked that all up.
In fact, the players’ own characters are the ones
who screwed it all up. They are the conspirators who
bring the Prince down, not realizing that what they’re
doing isn’t setting the city free—but rather, setting
the monsters free.
This product is about what happens when the city
suffers a major void of power, and about navigating
the horrors that swiftly move to fill that void.
What’s Inside
This scenario is broken down into three sections:
In this Introduction you’ll get the background of
the story to come, the full write-ups of the Storyteller
characters and some other general notes.
The Scenes of the story are the heart of the action.
Because of the way in which storytelling games can
flow, these scenes are modular and provide you with
a framework upon which you can improvise, rather
than locking you into rigid patterns.
The Scene Cards at the end of the scenario are
a quick-reference resource for you to use as the
Storyteller. If you don’t have the option of printing
up the entirety of Into the Void, you can just print
up the scene cards instead and use those to get the
overall gist of the story.
Into the Void 39

Treatment
The adventure begins with a bang: In the very first
scene, the characters off the Prince. It seems like a
moment of triumph, but the victory lap is short-lived.
Morning comes, and by the following evening,
the truth has been loosed upon the city: the Prince
is dead—really, truly, finally dead. The jailer is gone.
The result? Chaos. Vampires feed wantonly. Political
maneuverings cast aside all pretense of subtlety—
you can’t call it “backstabbing” if the stake goes in
through the chest. The clans and covenants all set
to a boil: They want power, and they want it now.
As the nights worsen, as the madness escalates, the
Masquerade strains at its stitches to contain it all.
The human response is already rising to the surface
as the herd unknowingly seeks to countermand the
deepening shadow.
Somewhere it becomes clear: the Prince had a very
tight grip on this city. The response to any deposition
of leadership is usually a period of chaos, but this is
fucking nuts. This Prince had something special going
on—some factor of control that went well beyond the
norm. And so, early on in the adventure the players
learn the truth: the Prince had orchestrated power
and wrested control from the other vampires in the
city by holding their darkest secrets above their head.
He went well above and beyond the call of duty in
learning the vulnerabilities and discovering the
closeted skeletons of the city’s vampires, from the
lowliest neonate worm to the eldest sanguinary scion.
And now that he’s gone, the puppet strings have
been cut.
But those secrets remain; the Prince had them
concealed somewhere in the city. If the players hope
to restore order to the city and claim leadership for
Background and Setup
Some pieces of information should be made
available to the vampires right off the bat, with no
roll necessary.
A Hint of the Truth
Characters (and by proxy, their players) want to feel
active, not passive—they should not be dragged along
to the truth but rather shown only the door. It’s up
40 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
themselves, they damn well better try to find the
Prince’s “box of secrets” before someone else does.
Or before the city cannibalizes itself and is left a
bloodless corpse.
A Chapter in
Your Chronicle
This game is certainly well-served by becoming
an organic part of your pre-existing Vampire: The
Requiem chronicle. To do so isn’t particularly
difficult, but will take some maneuvering to ensure
that this adventure is a natural part of the story’s flow.
First, be advised that the characters in this game
are meant to be of a fairly high-level. These are not
neonate characters; they are potent ancillae or young
elders, most likely.
Second, the conspiracy to bring down the Prince
isn’t something someone concocted overnight.
Whether the characters birthed this conspiracy on
their own or they are shepherded forth by a Patron
character (the Patron is described later in this
document on p. 43), it didn’t come from nothing.
The resentment and the hunger for power have been
simmering for a long while. It is worth taking time
not only to think about how this will build up but
also taking a number of game sessions to actually
start the ball rolling. Yes, this adventure begins
right in the thick of it, but the overall story doesn’t
have to. If the players are on board, you can build
up to the first scene (“The Perished Prince”) over
the course of several game sessions.
Third, it’s worth putting into play a relationship
with the Prince—his demise will feel all the more
organic and affecting if the players get to witness
the man in action.
to them whether or not they care to walk through it.
In this case, you want to show them how the Prince
has been keeping order in the city without explicitly
stating it. The backstory is therefore a good place
to set this up.
Someone in the last ten years went against the
Prince. He or she (hereby known as The Defiant)
stood up against the Prince’s presumably draconian
policies and, three nights later, was beheaded on a
rooftop, body turned to ash, skull left as a charred
artifact. Seems a not unusual course of events—defy
the Prince, end up decapitated—but how those three
nights unfolded is what was unusual.
Various power players across the city received
packages. These packages were all different, and all
seemingly tailor-made for the recipients.
Each package was reflective of The Defiant in
some way.
One package revealed a recorded conversation
where the Defiant badmouthed and conspired against
a powerful Crone Hierophant (who received the tape).
A second package showed a map to (and of) the
Defiant’s haven and was sent to various neonates
across the city.
A third package revealed forensic evidence that
the Defiant was the malefactor responsible for the
Final Death of a young vampire who happened to
be the child of a prominent elder. (And who got that
evidence? You guessed it: the prominent elder.)
A fourth package was sent to the Prince. The
evidence within revealed various Masquerade
breaches committed by the Defiant, his coterie and
his childer.
So, when the time came and the Defiant wound up
headless and burned, nobody can really say for sure
exactly who did the deed because out of nowhere a
whole lot of vampires suddenly gained motive.
The truth of the whole thing is that the Prince was
the one who had all this information and was the one
responsible for putting it into the hands of the city’s
vampires—but he put it into his own hands publicly,
thus attempting to draw attention away from himself.
The city’s vampires don’t know this, of course.
Some may have a suspicion, but that’s all they have to
go on; the situation remains hidden behind clouds of
rumor. The player characters probably know the core
of the situation: the Defiant went against the Prince
publicly, then was the target of some kind of smear
campaign just before he got his ass handed to him.
If you don’t have this story connected to your
pre-existing chronicle, that’s okay, we have it
covered: the Defiant’s name was Kunz and he was
a firebrand Carthian who refused to be contained.
The important thing to note is that he wasn’t some
small fish in a big pond: he was a powerful ancilla
with notable connections and ambitions. It shows
that even those with power can have it snatched away
at the last moment.
The Set-Up
The story begins in the set-up. It’s where you’ll
provide the narrative impulse to get the game
moving. Backstory is important, but don’t focus
on it. The springboard to action (and thus, player
interest) starts here.
Dark Secrets
The Prince possesses a treasure trove of secrets.
He has something on every vampire in the city: haven
locations, access codes, duped SIM cards, recordings,
documents, blurry photos, letters—the works. He has
something different on every vampire.
Before play, discuss separately with each player
exactly what he might have on them. Have the player
clearly identify up to three dark secrets that few others
know about the character. (It’s ideal if these dark
secrets remain hidden from the other players and
their characters.)
The player may have an idea, or may be willing to
offer the Storyteller a little creative license in coming
up with some dangerous or deranged backstory for her
character that has yet remained unknown.
If you require it, work a roll into the mix. Have
the player roll her character’s Manipulation + Stealth
dice pool. Failure indicates that the Prince had three
pieces of evidence serving to illuminate three of the
character’s darkest secrets. Success drops this number
to one revealed dark secret, whereas an exceptional
success means that the character was lucky enough to
have scraped by without the Prince ever having any
evidence; whatever lies in the Prince’s box of secrets
is inconclusive and ultimately useless.
Why does this matter?
First, no vampire wants to learn that another
vampire holds secrets over their head. Yes, the Prince
gets offed after the first scene, but it won’t be long
before the players learn about the box of secrets (if
they didn’t already know of it). Clearly the Prince had
a threat in place: you mess with him, you get your
secrets released into the wild. Even if that’s not the
case, that still means the characters’ darkest secrets
remain “out there” for any other vampire to discover.
Second, the final scene of this piece—provided
the characters make it that far—reveals a pivotal
problem. The players’ characters don’t know one
another’s dark secrets—though, let’s be honest, they
probably want to. That final scene, when the vampires
Into the Void 41
 discover the box, is a turning point. Do they agree
to burn the box? Throw the secrets wide open? How
can they negotiate one another’s vulnerabilities? It’s
like a minefield.
Now, if you’re not really into those games where
treachery and duplicity come into play at your
own gaming table, we understand. In that case,
we recommend removing the characters from this
equation. Reframe the story so the reason the
characters are the ones to go after the Prince is
because they have nothing to lose. He never got
secrets on any of them and so they remain protected.
Motivations: What’s at Stake?
Killing another vampire is a big deal. And it’s
generally a big “no-no” in terms of keeping order and
maintaining the Masquerade.
Killing the Prince is therefore the extreme fringe
of this— if murdering a common vampire is a scary
proposition, offing the Prince is pretty batshit.
Thus it’s important upfront to establish the
motivations of the characters. They aren’t just doing
this for kicks. This is serious business that demands
serious motive.
It’s okay if each character has a separate motive,
but it’s just as okay if they share a single motive. (In
the latter case, it’s recommended that the characters
belong to one coterie as opposed to merely being
co-conspirators).
Here you’ll find a handful of potential motivations
that drive the characters. This is not an exhaustive
list and you’re encouraged to come up with your own.
Moreover, they aren’t exclusive to one another and in
many cases can be combined to form an even more
powerful motive.
• Reward. Some vampires have moved past
material reward, but let’s be honest: most
haven’t. Money is great. So is territory. And fast
cars. And blood dolls. A vampire may be willing
to off the Prince for a reward—mind you, it’s
probably a very big reward, but that makes the
sting all the sweeter. The important thing to
note here is that “reward as motivation” means
that the task at hand is externally-driven;
killing the Prince is, for the character, nothing
personal. Someone else is the one pointing the
character like a gun (and here we’ll refer you to
the “Patron” section on p. 43).
42 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
• Status and Allies. W hat’s often more
important than material reward is political
and social reward. A vampire is only as good
as her place in the hierarchy, and if offing
the Prince improves that for her in a big way,
the idea becomes a lot more seductive. Note
that this could go either way: it’s possible
that the character has been put to the task by
another individual. “Destroy the Prince and
the Bishopric awaits you,” or “Cast him into
Final Death and I shall owe you the biggest
favor you could imagine.” Alternatively, the
character may believe that offing the Prince
will yield status and allies in much the same
way that a knight slaying a dragon might be
viewed as a hero. Obliterating the Prince is
surely the way toward a bump in status, is it
not?
• Secrets. In general, the city’s vampires don’t
know that the Prince has a box of secrets—and
those that do don’t necessarily know he has
something on everyone. It remains possible,
however, that one or all of the characters do
know this. If one of them thought to stand
against the Prince (perhaps on a political
issue), then it’s likely that the Prince would
have issued a warning that hinted at his cache
of dark secrets. As a result, it’s very possible
that the motivation to attack and destroy the
Prince is to reclaim and liberate those secrets
for themselves—either to bury their own dark
secrets or to exploit the secrets of others.
• Revenge. Any Prince makes enemies. You
can’t make a city without breaking a few heads.
As such, revenge represents a perfectly viable
motive behind his execution. If a character
doesn’t like how the Prince done her wrong,
well, revenge is a dish best served with an axe
to the neck.
• Religion. It’s naïve to think that only humans
kill one another over religion—vampires,
already driven by their most basic instincts,
often view their religious beliefs with an
almost reptilian sense of protectiveness.
Consider that the Prince (as he’s shown here)
is an atheist capitalist whose only gods were
blood and money. His policies on the two
ostensibly religious covenants within the
city kept them largely politically neutered. It
 makes sense, then, that a religious vampire
(or a character hired by just such a religious
character) would want him out of the picture.
Alternately, if you’re using a Prince character
of your own design, that Prince might very
well be a Crone or one of the Sanctified,
earning his own brand of enmity from the
other side (think “religious crusade”).
• Puppet. Blood is addictive, and a lot of
vampires are on the hook for it: many, in fact,
end up in service to other vampires. One of
the characters may very well be acting at the
behest of a vampiric master: a mad elder, a
crass Archbishop or a callous Hierophant.
• Something Far More Sinister. Killing the
Prince is a significant enough event that it
may demand a truly sinister reason. In this,
you have unlimited options. Is the Prince a
sacrifice for some kind of blood demon? Is
one of the characters a diablerist? Perhaps
the murder of the Prince is driven by the
mysterious sect known as VII, or one of the
characters is possessed and controlled by a
foul Strix spirit. It could even be that one of
the conspirator characters is nothing more
than an entropy-loving sociopathic monster
whose only desire is to see the city go down
in flames of chaos.
The Patron
This story works well without a patron character—
as noted, offing the Prince is a big damn deal and is
very likely born of personal motivations.
Of course, nobody said those personal motivations
had to be from the players’ characters—it’s possible
that a Storyteller character in the city is the one
harboring said motivations, and this character can
then become the group’s patron.
Why would a Patron have the characters perform
this onerous, odious task? Check the motivations
listed above and choose one for the patron; is it
personal? Infernal? Political or religious?
The other question to ask is: why is the patron
figure not performing the task himself? Is he afraid
of getting caught? Is he trying to create an alibi for
himself?
The patron needn’t be a single character. This
conspiracy may be born of an entire covenant. If the
Dragons in a city decide that they want the Prince
cast down, then they might all be in on it.
The Cast
Below is a cast you can use for Into the Void.
We’ve only statted out a handful of characters, but
below that you will find a list of other vampires that
can “fill in” the remainder of the city’s hierarchy
if you don’t have one ready to go. These vampires
do not receive any stats, but each get a paragraph
or so of information to help you drop them into
a scene or two. (Obviously, should they become
more important, feel free to give them stats when
appropriate.)
PRINCE TIBERIAS
Quotes: “Oh-ho-ho. Come in. Have a drink. It’s been
too long. What’ll you have? Blood of an Englishman?”
(Socialize)
“You have no idea what Hell you’ve opened up. Not
just for yourselves, but for the whole city. Would you burn
down a forest just to get a single fox?” (Intimidation or
Empathy)
“Please. This has gone too far. You don’t want to do
this. I can help you. I can offer you so many things. Will
you listen? Will you wait?” (Persuasion)
Description: Tiberias is a hearty, physically robust
ruler—a plump gut beneath a broad chest, a tangled
top of red hair (coupled with a sideburns that look
like fire leaping off his rough-hewn face), and hands
that could crush a monkey skull. He carries himself
with a rakish, almost drunken charm.
It is a ruse, at least in part. Tiberias pretends to rule
as a sloppy, sometimes slovenly Prince—he enjoys his
food and his wine, but most of all he seems to enjoy
ruling by “letting things fall as they may.” In reality,
he’s a sharp and vicious man—the fat-bellied spider at
the center of a very complicated web. He is a man who,
with his box of secrets, is running a very long con, and
who governs more behind the scenes than up front.
It’s earned him a great deal of enmity, though few
Princes can say they escape each night without added
scorn—but certainly many of the vampires in the city
believe that Hell holds a special place for Tiberias.
Storytelling Hints: Imagine that an old English
king has a few flagons of wine gurgling around his
Into the Void 43
 Willpower: 7
Morality: 4
Initiative: 8
Defense: 7
Speed: 13
Health: 10
Blood Potency: 8
Weapons/Attacks

Dice
Type Dmg Range Pool Special
Vigor- 3(L) n/a 12 Must spend
Juiced Willpower
Haymaker point to utilize
Haymaker
maneuver
Civil War 2(L) n/a 12
Saber

HARMON KALE (SHERIFF)

gut and you come to understand exactly how Tiberias
acts most of the time—that is, until he is somehow
cornered or forced into acting like a Prince. At that
point, the illusionary fog clears, the lips purse or
scowl, and his eyes darken.
Name: Tiberias
Concept: Prince That Got Himself Dead
Clan: Ventrue
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 5,
Resolve 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 4,
Stamina 5
Social Attributes: Presence 5, Manipulation 3,
Composure 4
Mental Skills: Academics 2, Computer 1,
Investigation 3, Occult 3, Politics 5
Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl 5, Drive
1, Firearms 1, Larceny 2, Stealth 3, Survival 3,
Weaponry 5
Social Skills: Animal Ken 2, Empathy 4,
Expression 3, Intimidation 5, Persuasion 5,
Socialize 5, Streetwise 3, Subterfuge 4
Disciplines: Animalism 2, Dominate 2, Majesty 2,
Resilience 2, Vigor 3
Quotes: “City’s fucked. Plunged into chaos and darkness
because of what you done. That’s unacceptable. You
violated the peace, so now I violate you.” (Intimidation)
“Only person I trust to step into the void on this one is
me. I’m making a play for the city, an’ I’m the only one
who knows how it’s really done.” (Politics)
“I can give you the carrot, or I can give you the stick.
The carrot is you help me lock this city down and I give
you some territory, maybe a better title. The stick is… well,
we don’t talk about the stick.” (Persuasion)
Description: Kale’s built like a fire-plug: round chest,
meaty fists, bulldog face. He isn’t particularly charismatic,
nor is he all that attractive—it’s why the role of sheriff has
been ideal for him. It grants him a measure of power and
authority over the city’s vampires without making him
the face of the city. He can operate in shadow, be equal
parts “tough goon” and “long arm of the law,” and play
good cop/bad cop all by himself. He’s long been the
Prince’s right hand man when it comes to keeping order
in the city; Kale’s been the one who has done most of
the collection for the Prince’s mighty box of secrets. Kale
is equal parts “Sheriff” and “Head of the Secret Police.”
Thing is, Kale’s always wanted more. He has long
felt that in reality, he’s been the one keeping the cap
on things—the Prince has just been a figurehead. A
very important figurehead, no doubt, but he’s been
the guy with his hands on the reins, right?

44 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start


It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. What matters
is that, despite being the Prince’s go-to guy and being
the one who has collected most of the Prince’s prized
collection, Kale has no idea where the Prince actually
keeps this mythic collection of secrets.
He knows that if he can get to it, it’ll put him in a
position of unparalleled power—more specifically, it’ll
allow him to claim the mantle of Prince. A curious thing:
Kale doesn’t really want power for the sake of power. He
finds it distasteful. But he thrives on authority and is
obsessed with keeping order, which is what fuels his drive.
Storytelling Hints: Kale is gruff and straightforward,
but that doesn’t mean more isn’t going on beneath the
surface. He’s always playing an angle, and is far craftier
than he seems. He’s got the demeanor (and face) of a
bulldog, true. But he’s got the mind and heart of a fox.
Name: Harmon Kale
Concept: Beleaguered Sheriff
Clan: Mekhet
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 4,
Resolve 4
Physical Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 3,
Stamina 5
Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 3,
Composure 4
Mental Skills: Computer 2, Crafts 2,
Investigation 5, Medicine 1, Occult 3, Politics 3
Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl 4, Drive
3, Firearms 3, Larceny 3, Stealth 5, Survival 2,
Weaponry 4
Social Skills: Empathy 3, Intimidation 5,
Persuasion 3, Socialize 3, Streetwise 5, Subterfuge 5
Disciplines: Auspex 2, Celerity 5, Obfuscate 2
Willpower: 8
Humanity: 5
Initiative: 9
Defense: 6
Speed: 13
Health: 10
Blood Potency: 5
Weapons/Attacks
Type Dmg Range Dice Pool
Remington M870 4(L) 20/40/80 6
12 Gauge
AMELIE
(THE PRINCE’S ATTACHÉ)
Quotes: “Hey, to hell with you. I’m free, and death is
short, and now it’s every blood junkie for herself.” (Politics)
“I hold the keys to the kingdom. You didn’t know that,
do you?” (Subterfuge)
“Tiberias, he loved me. He trusted me. He made me
his. And so he gave me the greatest secret in the city, and
now I’m going to use it to keep my head attached to my
shoulders. The bidding starts in one hour.” (Persuasion)
Description: Amelie is a waifish pixie-girl with
close-cropped dark hair, wearing a black pinstripe suit
just a bit too large for her. (This was what Tiberias
demanded she wear, and if the characters catch her
unawares, she might have dressed in a white wife-
beater and a pair of baggy cargo pants.)
Amelie has long been Tiberias’s attaché—she has
served as advisor, liaison, and lover for a pair of
decades. It was not her choice; her sire (long dead)
made the first of many grievous errors and as a
result was forced to give his childe to the Prince as
restitution. The Prince bound her to him and came to
love her. She, too, came to love him but only because
Into the Void 45
 Name: Amelie Villarosa
Concept: Broken Doll
Clan: Daeva
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3,
Resolve 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 4,
Stamina 2
Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 4,
Composure 3
Mental Skills: Academics 2, Computer 2, Crafts
2, Investigation 4, Occult 2, Politics 1
Physical Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 1, Drive 2,
Larceny 4, Stealth 4, Weaponry 2
Social Skills: Empathy 2, Expression 4,
Intimidation 1, Persuasion 3, Socialize 2,
Subterfuge 3
Disciplines: Auspex 2, Celerity 2, Dominate 2,
Majesty 2
Willpower: 6
Morality: 6
Initiative: 8
of the bond—now that Tiberias is gone, she feels free,
unburdened by her fetters. Defense: 7
As a character, Amelie remains in an interesting Speed: 15
place should you care to use her beyond this Health: 7
adventure. She could really go either way now that
she’s free. She will certainly seek to “find herself,” Blood Potency: 3
but does this mean she drags herself out of Tiberias’s Weapons/Attacks
long, dark shadow, or does it mean she only becomes
more of a monster in turn? Type Dmg Range Dice Pool
Storytelling Hints: Amelie is finding her feet, so Straight 0(L) na 5
Razor
to speak—she is equal parts brash and cowardly. It’s as
if she wants to spit in the eye of the Danse Macabre
so bad, her bravura keeps pushing past her fear and
rising to the surface.

46 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start

 Vampires of the City
Below you’ll find a handful of vampires (in most
cases, those potent Kindred who sit closer to the
top of the pyramid than the bottom) for use in this
adventure. With each you will find the vampire’s
clan and any dark secrets the vampire possesses
(important in terms of the Prince’s “box of secrets”).
Cardinal: Thabit
(The Hand of God)
Daeva
Dark Secret: Was once a violent diablerist, uses
forgotten Theban Sorcery to hide it as he claims it was
the “hand of God” that made him do those things.
Thabit is a self-righteous brute. His version of
the Sanctum is walled-off and restrictive: a castle in
which those who belong are protected and those who
do not are held outside the gate. His version of the
Danse Macabre is an exalted condition, but only if
you accept God and the story of Longinus. He cares
not to preach. He has little interest in convincing you
of the glory of God. He yearns for a violent crusade
to cleanse the city of its naysayers, but the Prince has
been holding him back.
Harpy: Blackmoore
(The Comedian)
Ventrue
Dark Secret: Despite all his callousness and Harpy
judgment, Blackmoore still has a mortal family that
he keeps in touch with and protects.
Blackmoore is equal parts “Tim Gunn from
Project Runway” and “court jester.” Though he’s
not gay, he acts the stereotype: sassy, snide, cruel,
always fast with a jibe or a verbal riposte. If he had
a Social Fighting Style, its opening move would be,
“Oh, Snap.” The thing is, despite all the jokes and
hilarious cruelty, he’s very good at a) knowing all
the most forbidden gossip while keeping to himself
until it’s advantageous to release it and b) knowing
how to really make it hurt. He can sting the most
stalwart of monsters. Of course, he never turned his
wicked tongue against the Prince… because he’s one
of the Kindred in town who knows full well about
the box of secrets.
Hierophant: Daciana
(The Monster)
Nosferatu
Dark Secret: The evidence the Prince possesses is
about where Daciana sleeps. She’s very paranoid and
does not want that information “out there.”
Daciana is a night terror—an ancient, decrepit elder
who has carved out a pretty good swath of territory
across the city’s park system. Despite being a possibly
insane and monstrous elder, Daciana remains as an
active part of the Circle of the Crone. She serves
as Hierophant, yes, leading the local cultists in the
various rites and services. But she also serves as an
emblem of the Crone herself—Daciana even claims
to be the childe of the Crone. As such, her role as
leader of the local Crones is not just as a taskmaster
or actor; she is also a creature who earns her worship
directly. With the Prince gone, she knows that the
lock has been knocked off the cage, and she has little
interest in restraint or prudence. The covenant—with
her at its head—must be ascendant at any cost.
Judex: Atticus
(The Rational)
Ventrue
Dark Secret: Was once a prominent Carthian in a
different city under a different name (Aaron).
Atticus has long been neutered. Yes, he’s the
standing Judex in a city full of Invictus, and yes, the
Prince was himself Invictus. But the Prince chose to
mediate disputes himself (or have Sheriff Kale do it),
thus leaving Atticus relatively toothless in the face
of conflict. Atticus wasn’t without tasks, of course;
nobody wants a bored Judex wandering around. But
the conflicts he was called upon to mediate were thin
and shallow, divisions that could have been bridged
by a neonate with a year of the Requiem under his
belt. Now, the shackles are off. The Prince is gone.
Atticus—judgmental, rational, icy—is ready to work.
Into the Void 47
 Kogaion: Saladin
(The Obsessive)
Mekhet
Dark Secret: He has been accused of giving away
the Ordo Dracul’s secrets to outsiders. The Prince,
however, intervened and ensured that the letters
from the seven other Kogaions never made it to
their recipients.
Like many Kogaions, Saladin is an obsessive hermit
driven to the brink of madness by his consuming
need to study the occult forces behind the city, its
construction, and its politics. He believes he will
be able to predict the next Prince by examining
the occult forces surrounding the city at this time,
which causes him to leave his penthouse tower and
descend into the fray for the five days that comprise
this adventure.
Master of Elysium: Owen Clan Speaker Daeva: :
(The Ludicrous) Mercedes The Blasphemer
Daeva
Dark Secret: Owen has a ghoul lover, Miranda.
He is technically her master and her keeper, and that
role plays out in public quite nicely. But it’s not the
entire truth. In reality, Owen has given himself to her
completely: she owns him body and soul. Miranda is
running the show—and that means she is essentially
the Master of Elysium, not him.
Owen’s Elysium is full of vampiric “bread and
circuses.” He is the king of pomp and circumstance,
establishing lunatic carnivals and orgies and balls
to keep the city’s Kindred amused (and to keep
them from ripping out each other’s throats). Owen
himself is, as his name suggests, ludicrous. If the
vampires of the city released a “Blackwell’s Worst
Dressed” list of the year, he’d be top of the list every
time. Yes, it’s high fashion, but in the lowest way
possible. Owen didn’t like the Prince—ruse or no,
he found Tiberias slovenly, careless and a real lout.
But he also recognized that the Prince was the one
who put him in the role and who kept him there by
dint of containing his secrets; in this sense, Owen
is one of the few within the city who actively misses
the Prince’s control over the city, because now his
role is threatened.
48 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
Prefect: Quinn
(The Madam)
Ventrue
Dark Secret: Quinn is blood-bound to Daciana,
and is a secret Crone worshipper, a fact that would
not sit well with her Carthian servitors.
They call Quinn “the Madam” not only for her
lucrative prostitution racket, but because she is
willing to sell the body of her covenant; for any
goal, at any price. Carthians are asked, influenced,
or ordered to perform tasks for the rest of the
city—bodyguard, dancer, debate moderator, blood
wrangler. And Quinn is behind every one, pimping
out her own people to meet her private ends. But
just as Quinn whores out her own people, the Prince
reserves the right to call on Quinn to perform secret
tasks for him. She’s been drenched in resentment in
so long she may well throw a party.
Dark Secret: Mercedes has exquisite taste; so
particular that she’s had to breed it into a large
private herd she keeps sequestered outside the city.
The bloodbaths she holds in her private mansion
would put the Bathories to shame.
When she’s not presiding over her personal
slave farm, Mercedes is an advocate for neonate
representation in requiem politics, and a powerfully
empathetic, nominally unaligned voice. (She is
actually a member of good standing within the Ordo
Dracul, but does not campaign under their name.)
She cultivates a humane and gentle public personae,
and has acquired a subtle army of idealistic young
vampires who see in her a symbol of reform and
freedom.
Clan Speaker Gangrel:
Robicheaux (The Domesticated)
Dark Secret: Robicheaux claims to be about a
hundred years old—and that is a tremendous lie. This
Gangrel is actually well over a thousand years old.
But the years have not been kind to his mind and
he finds it easier to play younger. If anyone found
out that his blood was of significant potency, they
might come after him.
The city’s Gangrel don’t much like Robicheaux.
They call him “domesticated,” because he’s like a wolf
who has become a dog—a lap dog, at that. Robicheaux
is a weak-kneed, bent-spined “noble savage”—a wild
man dragged out of the Bayou (or so the story goes)
and turned civilized. He’s now a hungry politico who
will give his vote to whoever is standing downwind.
A small conspiracy of Gangrel now wants to drag
him away and “reintroduce” him to his wild side by
whatever means possible.
Clan Speaker Nosferatu: Miscellaneous Enemies
Grolsch (The Brown Recluse)
Dark Secret: Grolsch is, yes, a powerful Nosferatu
elder. He is also “Karl,” the not-so-powerful leader of a
rag-tag Unaligned neonate coterie known as the “Red
Scare.” Grolsch is political, while Karl wants to tear
down the political structure. Ultimately, he does so
to undermine any attempts by the “lower class” to
bring down those atop the pyramid. How does he
keep up the ruse? Grolsch never shows his face: he
always wears a mask that is reportedly bolted to his
misshapen skull. Karl’s face, however, is always on
display and hard to forget: noseless, with a mouth
full of fangs and bloodshot eyes.
Grolsch is the king of the subterranean spaces,
and can be found in every shadow and around
every dark corner in the city (hence his epithet, the
Brown Recluse). But despite being the leader of the
Nosferatu warren beneath the city, he’s alarmingly
political as far as the Freaks go—he’s forever active
in campaigning and politicking for his own weird
pet causes.
Clan Speaker Mekhet:
Siobhan (The Go-Getter)
Dark Secret: Siobhan has long been the keeper of
the city’s mortal political dynasties—the Allertons,
the Whitworths, the Macbrides. Common vampire
wisdom exhorts the bloodsuckers to stay away from
directly manipulating important mortals, but Siobhan
has ignored that advice for centuries. She doesn’t just
control these families—she has integrated herself into
them, nesting there as the leader of various shadowy
blood cults. No, the Illuminati don’t control local
politics, Siobhan does. And she wants that kept secret.
Siobhan is not the typical cold, stodgy Mekhet.
She dresses brightly, she smiles, her voice has a
lyrical lilt. She could sell milk to a cow: her words
are that compelling even without the judicious use
of her Disciplines. It’s not a ruse, exactly—she really
is that way. But it betrays what is for her a completely
eroded sense of Humanity. She is debased in ways one
cannot even imagine—behind those bright eyes are
the memories of countless human sacrifices, endless
tortures and blood-soaked orgies.
Throughout this adventure, we will refer to a
number of enemies that may plague the characters
through the various scenes and encounters.
Cop
Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 3,
Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3, Presence 3,
Manipulation 1, Composure 3
Skills: Investigation 2, Athletics 1, Brawl 1,
Firearms 3, Weaponry 3, Stealth 1,  Intimidation 1
Attacks:
• Pistol: 6 (Dexterity 3, Firearms 3); Damage
+2L; Initiative -3
• Baton: 5 (Strength 2, Weaponry 3); Damage
+1B; ; Initiative -1
Defense: 3 (2 In Armor)
Armor: 1/3 (Kevlar Vest)
Merits:
• Cover Combat: Cops reduce the penalty to
their rolls for firing from behind cover by one
point.
• Report In: A cop can access and use their
radio easily while performing other actions,
they can both report in and take a combat
action at no penalty to their roll.
Tactics: Modern police officers carry tasers and
pepper spray, which they will usually default to using
unless they expect lethal danger. Both of these are
wholly ineffective against Kindred. However, police
are trained to call for back up the second they
Into the Void 49
 expect any form of physical danger, and report their
position frequently. Thus while a single officer may
go down quickly, they tend to bring about serious
repercussions.
Gangbanger
Attributes: Intelligence 1, Wits 2, Resolve 3,
Strength 4, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3, Presence 3,
Manipulation 3, Composure 2
Skills: Athletics 1, Brawl 3, Firearms 1, Weaponry
2, Intimidation 3
Attacks:
• Knuckle Duster: 7 (Strength 4, Brawl 3);
Damage +0B; Initiative -0
• Knife: 6 (Strength 4, Weaponry 2); Damage
+0L; Initiative -1
• Pistol*: 3 (Dexterity 2, Firearms 1); Damage
+2L; Initiative -3
*Not all gangbangers carry guns, but those who
do love to threaten with them.
Defense: 5
Armor: 1/0 (Leather Jacket)
Merits:
• Brawling Dodge: Gangbangers use Brawl
instead of Athletics when calculating defense.
• Damage Tolerance: The hard knock life
numbs one’s senses, gangbangers don’t take
wound penalties from bashing damage.
Tactics: A long gangbanger isn’t much of a threat,
indeed at the first sign of real trouble they’ll generally
hightail it away. However, in groups they become
extremely tenacious, likely to follow combatants
well beyond the point of safety. This can be both a
huge threat or great advantage, depending on how
the vampire is handling the situation.
Daeva Thug
Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2,
Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4, Presence 3,
Manipulation 3, Composure 2
Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 4, Weaponry 2, Stealth
3, Intimidation 2
50 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
Attacks:
• Fists: 9 (Strength 3, Brawl 4, Vigor 2); Damage
+0L; Initiative -0
Defense: 6
Armor: 0/0
Blood Potency: 2
Vitae: 7
Disciplines*: Majesty 1, Celerity 1, Vigor 2
Tactics: Daeva favor a strong first impression and
a stronger opening shot, when combat starts a Daeva
thug is likely to jump the queue with celerity and
put in a heavy, vigor powered attack. Indeed they’ll
tend to favor activation of their physical disciplines;
interrupts, long dashes, and heavy hits, over the
use of vampire’s inherent advantages. Fortunately,
however, being kindred they know a fight between
two of their kind is liable to invoke the prince’s wrath
so they’ll try to resolve most altercations with their
predatory aura before turning to fists.
Special Forces/SWAT
Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 3,
Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3, Presence 2,
Manipulation 2, Composure 3
Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl 3, Firearms 4, Weaponry
4, Stealth 2
Attacks:
• Unarmed: 6 (Strength 3, Brawl 3); Damage
+0B; ; Initiative -0
• Knife: 7 (Strength 3, Weaponry 4); Damage
+0L; Initiative -0
• Assault Rifle: 8 (Dexterity 4, Firearms 4);
Damage +3L; Initiative -3
Defense: 6 (4 in armor)
Armor: 3/5 (Riot Gear)
Merits:
• Krav Maga: Add two additional dice when
Brawling.
• Marksmanship: Soldiers are well trained
marksmen, they double the bonus dice added
by taking an aim action.
• Cover Combat: Cops reduce the penalty to their
rolls for firing from behind cover by one point.
 • Small Unit Tactics: SWAT units operate best
in small groups, supporting each other and
getting one another’s back. All characters
with small unit tactics add a +1 bonus to all
physical rolls while in close proximity to one
another, and increase their defense by 1.
Tactics: Spec ops and anti-riot units are bad
news, even for the indred. They are well trained,
well composed and prepared for unexpected action.
Unlike normal cops soldiers are prone to use more
lethal force, especially once their life has proven to be
at risk. Military training teaches them to be thorough
as well, they’ll shoot a downed vampire in the head
just to confirm the kill, and willingly shatter bones
and dislocate joints while grappling. Worst of all they
tend to be adaptive and organized, they aren’t likely
to take off on their own, and if bullets aren’t working
the team will think of something else.
Vampire Hunter
Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Resolve 4,
Strength 3, Dexterity 2, Stamina 4, Presence 2,
Manipulation 4, Composure 3
Skills: Occult 3, Athletics 2, Brawl 1, Firearms 2,
Weaponry 4, Stealth 3
Attacks:
• Stake: 6 (Strength 3, Weaponry 4); Damage
+0L; Initiative -2
• Pistol: 4 (Dexterity 2, Firearms 2); Damage
+1L; Initiative -2
• Improvised Flamethrower: 3 (Dexterity 2,
Firearms 2, Penalty -1); Damage +1L; Initiative -6
Defense: 4
Armor: 3/5 (Riot Gear)
Merits:
• Staking Specialty: Hunters train in the
tactical application of the wooden stake, if
they score at least three successes on an attack
they may forgo their normal damage to stab
the vampire through the heart, paralyzing
them.
• Hardened: T he hunter’s resolve and
composure are considered two dots higher
when used to resist or contest vampiric
Disciplines.
Tactics: Vampire hunters greatest advantage is
also their greatest weakness, paranoia. They know
vampires exist and thus they see them around every
corner. Hunters are good a picking up on the telltale
signs of Discipline usage, they avoid eye contact, stay
close to crowds and don’t blunder around at night.
In combat this is especially evident, hunters rarely
fight fair. They attack during the day, use fire, and
will attempt to draw attention to monsters when
ambushed hoping that the fear of discovery with
dissuade a vampiric attacker. Most importantly,
however, a good hunter is a cautious one, they know
what they are up against and won’t be as easily goaded
into traps as most other foes.
Into the Void 51
 Scene Flowchart

52 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start

 Scenes
Scene Flowchart
The narrative of Into the Void unfolds in a way
that allows the characters (and their players) a hefty
measure of freedom. The adventure itself features
only three truly critical scenes: a beginning scene (kill
the prince), a middle scene (discover location of the
box of secrets), and an ending scene (reclaiming the
box of secrets). The other scenes listed in this SAS
are ultimately optional “encounter” scenes.
The Five-Day Forecast
Into the Void is meant to unfold over the course
of five nights—the characters may complete the story
before those five in-game nights are up, but unless the
Storyteller decides otherwise, the adventure won’t go
beyond those five nights.
Over these five nights, the tensions in the city
according to the following scheme:
First Night: “Party Down.” The news is out: the
Prince is dead. The atmosphere is festive, celebratory,
a real party. Of course, the way monsters party isn’t
exactly sane: Masquerade breaches pop up around
the city as the vampires wantonly fill up on blood.
For the most part, the vampires keep the peace with
one another on this night, but they’re damn sure not
keeping the peace with the human herd. If anyone
has claimed themselves to be the Prince on this night,
the narrative doesn’t stick: nobody believes it, and
frankly, nobody really cares.
Second Night: “Hangover.” The chickens come
home to roost. Increased vampire activity looks
on the surface to be crime-related, and so the city
puts out police in force. Nobody is restraining the
monsters, and so their response isn’t to retreat to the
shadows but rather, to push back. Meanwhile, the
city’s dominant nocturnal predators begin to jostle
for position, each claiming some kind of ownership
over the city, justifying why he or she should end up
in the city’s seat of power. The problem is, no one
vampire has the cachet or the muscle to really back
this up, so the void will remain unfilled. Resentment
and madness breed in the margins. It’s becoming
clear: offing the Prince broke the picture into a
thousand puzzle pieces, then shook up the box. Now,
nothing is certain. No outcome is guaranteed.
Into the Void 53

Plotting
They say real estate is about
location, location, location. Telling
a good story is about escalation,
escalation, escalation. This tale starts
off innocuous enough, but swiftly
swells with an intensification of
threat from all sides: physical, moral,
spiritual, social. The characters will
have respite, but it shouldn’t be long-
lived. If a scene seems to exist without
tension, feel free to mine other scenes
for new ideas and ways to ratchet up
the conflict. Remember that in life, we
hope to avoid conflict, but in fiction,
we hope to achieve it.
Third Night: “Agitation.” The dominant players
and factions in the city’s vampire society are now in
competition to show who has the biggest, sharpest
teeth: it’s everybody against everybody. Normally,
the Danse Macabre is a slow-burning chess match,
but tonight? Tonight it’s a brutal hockey match-up
with lots of blood on the ice. Violence ensues. Chaos
reigns. The mortal authorities push back even harder,
believing this to be some kind of “underworld gang
violence,” which puts a lot of innocent humans in
the cross-fire. Real gangs take notice, and they start
acting up—some just because they can smell a power
grab, some at the behest of unseen masters.
Fourth Night: “Boilover.” Up until this point, the
city’s elders have remained largely silent on the city’s
54 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
future. Many are slow to act in general, preferring
instead a slow, calculating approach. That is no longer
possible. The city’s power hierarchy is in shambles,
and so they must act. Unfortunately, they do not
act as a single entity. Each elder is his own tangle of
motives and peccadilloes, and as a result each elder
chooses to back a different horse (be it individual or
faction). This fails to resolve anything—and in fact
only ratchets up the conflict—because now the stage
is complicated by a host of definitely powerful and
possibly insane elders. Violent clashes spill over into
the street. The Masquerade is in tatters. Vampiric
authorities begin to weigh in: Inquisitors sent from
Rome, negotiators arriving on behalf of the First
Estate, elders from neighboring cities (who fear spill-
over damage), and so forth. The news goes out that
tomorrow night, the mortal authorities are putting
the city under martial law. With martial law comes
a curfew… and a military presence.
Fifth Night: “Apocalypse.” Apocalypse infers the
end of the world, but it also translates into revelation,
and both of those things are apropos, here. Martial
law is in place. The military comes rolling in to set
up a presence and to quash rioters. The elders use
their considerable power to complicate the lives and
unlives of both mortal and immortal competitors.
Nobody is Prince. The shit has hit the fan, and now
the fan has exploded and the drapes are on fire. And
so comes a shining light early in the night: Amelie,
the Prince’s attaché, emerges from hiding. She reveals
the existence of the Prince’s box of secrets, and makes
it clear that she knows where it is. She will offer the
box in its entirety to the highest bidder—but the bid
must include safe passage out of the city. Amelie
doesn’t want to be here anymore.
 Good Night, Sweet Prince
Overview
The characters-as-conspirators have trapped the
Prince—and now it’s time to drag the bastard into
Final Death. This is the first domino’s toppling that
leads to the city’s plunging into chaos.
Description
It’s early in the morning. The sun will be up in the next
hour. Already the sky has that purple tinge bleeding along
the horizon’s edge. Tiberias kneels before you, grinning, eyes
flashing. On the surface he seems defiant, but as you press
him, the façade trembles and the cracks begin to show. He
sees the writing on the wall. Nothing to be done, now—or
is there? He begins to beg—like any creature at the end of
its life, he struggles to make sense of it and bargain his way
out. Whatever you want, he’ll offer it. As if that matters.
You have two ways into this scene.
The first is that you and the player group sit down
before this scene really begins and ask the question,
“How do you kill the Prince?” The question comes
with no wrong answers, really—they’re ultimately
describing the machinations that will lead to this
scene. Do they trap him in the basement of a club? Do
they somehow attack his haven, heist-style? Can they
use some drunken Irish girl as bait? (His favorite.)
From that point, you play out the scene in its
entirety. The Prince isn’t going down without a
fight, and if given half an opportunity, he’ll run.
Ultimately, the characters have the advantage, as
they outnumber him—but if you play this scene out
accordingly, expect them to suffer at his hands. He
will not go quietly.
The other way into this scene is to begin at its
end. This might be best if you don’t have a lot of
time to run this adventure. Jump right in with the
characters having surrounded him and with Tiberias
on his knees—he moves from cocky to cajoling, from
blustery and brash to begging in short order. You can
have the players describe how the scene built to this
point, but it’s purely for narrative expression. In this
mode, there’s no need to roll dice.
Storytelling Goals
You’re coming into this scene with the energy of a
climactic narrative moment. This scene should feel like
it’s the end—this is a huge deal. In video game terms,
Prince Tiberias is the end boss. This should feel like an
insane way to open a story: offing the Prince? Really? It
can’t be this easy. The players should be made to feel
uncertain that you’re really starting this way; surely it’s
a trick? Have Tiberias act suspiciously, as if this might
be a reverse trap. You may want to hint that this is the
climax and the rest of the story will be a flashback
building up to this point. When they finally take the
Prince’s head as a trophy, they’ll be forced to wonder:
what now? What can top this?
Character Goals
Establish motivations and destroy the Prince.
Actions
Below are some of the actions that may impel the
scene toward its conclusion. Note that these are all
focused on the Prince. If Tiberias feels he has an
advantage, he’ll try to engage in combat in an effort
to hinder the characters. If he feels overwhelmed,
he’ll run for it. And, when he’s finally left with no
other option, he’ll try to talk his way out.
Combat Attacks
Dice Pool: Any appropriate attack roll
Action: Instant
Hindrances: The Prince’s Animalism may invoke
a fear frenzy; the Prince’s Dominate may attempt to
manipulate one of the characters.
Good Night, Sweet Prince 55
 Help: It’s perhaps been a long night and the Prince
is low(er) on Vitae; he’s alone; if the characters so
declared it, consider the possibility that the Prince
has consumed drunken or drugged blood and thus
suffers a -3 penalty to his own attacks
The Chase
Dice Pool: Stamina + Athletics vs. Stamina +
Athletics
Action: Instant and Contested
Hindrances: Tiberias can boost his speed with his
limited dots in Vigor. Further, he’ll do more than
run—he’ll knock down obstacles to separate him and
his pursuers (-3), he’ll jump across rooftops or over
dangerous territory (-3), and he’ll do whatever it takes
to put himself ahead.
Help: The Prince might be suffering wound
penalties already (-1 to -3) and could be lower on
blood; a character might have Vigor or, even better,
Celerity to boost Speed; the Prince may run into
some obstacles all on his own (-3).
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Character fumbles, takes a
point of lethal damage (goes through a window,
scrapes across a piece of metal, tumbles down steps,
etc)
Failure: Character fails to make any ground.
Success: Character gains ground on enemy.
Exceptional Success: Character inadvertently
creates difficulty for pursuers (knocks over trashcans,
puts traffic or a train between groups) and causes
them a -5 penalty on their next roll.
Navigating the Prince’s Pleas
This isn’t an action in the strictest sense—but it
is likely where the scene will end up presuming the
characters didn’t manage to preemptively destroy
Tiberias.
Tiberias will attempt to talk his way out of the
situation. He’ll use Dominate if need be. (Characters
may bolster themselves against his Dominate before
56 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
this scene by spending a Willpower to gain +2 to
resistance.)
He’ll also beg and make offers—and as the Prince,
he can make some very promising offers. The trick
here is that he cannot make equitable offers across
the board. He can’t promise that each character will
become his second in command. He can’t give each
character the sweetest hunting grounds in the city.
There’s only so much reward to go around, and this is
what complicates his plea—do the characters squabble
over the choices? Do they see that this is ultimately
just a way to get them to turn against one another?
Consequences
It’s worth asking right up front: what if Tiberias
succeeds? What if he escapes, or what if he manages
to talk his way into a stay of execution?
Those things are perfectly acceptable, if a bit
tricky—it certainly complicates the rest of this
adventure as written. Which leaves you with two
options:
One, fuck it. The story is what the story is, and the
players have made the choice for the characters. The
Prince survives and a whole other story will grow out
of this scene. Let it happen organically.
Two, game on. Sure, the characters didn’t manage
to finish the job, but later that night someone else
damn sure does. Imagine it: they let him go or he
escapes, and what happens the next evening? The
news comes out that the Prince is dead. A mystery
ensues: who finished the job? Did Amelie or Harmon
find the Prince in a weakened state, and decide to
take advantage? If the characters were driven to this
point by a Patron figure, did their Patron have a
“back up plan” handled by other conspirators? Or
is it possible that the Prince, smelling the blood in
the water, decided to flee the city before dawn and
create a false narrative about his own murder? In
any of these instances, the course of Into the Void
remains largely as written (though it may now feature
a minor “murder mystery” component).
 Secrets on the Wind,
Like Blood in the Water
Overview
This isn’t so much a single scene as it is a collection
of actions that lead the group to discover the
existence of the Prince’s box of secrets.
Description
The rumors are true: the Prince has more than just his
drunken charm and casual intimidation to keep the city’s
blood-hungry monsters in line. He was the keeper of a
cache of secrets, secrets that, if unearthed, would kick over
the hive. No vampire wants his dirty, gore-caked laundry
hung out for all to see. That’s how the Prince kept order.
This scene involves the characters uncovering the
truth about the existence of the box of secrets. It is
not, strictly speaking, a necessary scene—if enough
time passes, eventually Amelie will come out of
hiding and offer the box to the highest bidder.
Storytelling Goals
The value in this scene is that it puts additional
stress on the characters—but it also offers them a
solution that as yet few others in the city possess.
After the end of the last scene (“Good Night, Sweet
Prince”), the characters may be inclined to believe
that the city will simply fall into a new order—it’s
even possible that one of the characters will name
himself Prince. (Though how this sits with the other
characters remains to be seen.) The problem is, order
and stability just won’t stick. As the nights go on, all
manner of vampire will name themselves Prince—just
because a vampire calls himself that doesn’t mean
the title holds water. One has to have the authority
to lay claim to the highest position in the land, and
as it stands no one vampire holds the edge over all
others. In the absence of that kind of authority, the
city will plunge into chaos.
However, the discovery of the existence of the box
of secrets is a big deal. It’s how the Prince gained
Secrets on the Wind, Like Blood in the Water
an edge, and it’s similarly how any vampire will do
the same.
With this, you create a great McGuffin that
everybody wants (but doesn’t yet know about) and a
ticking clock. The characters must surely realize that
if they don’t get to the box soon enough, somebody
is going to get it—and then one devil will replace
another.
Note that the pieces of this scene can be
interspersed with any of the “Encounter Scenarios”
found later in this document (as always, feel free to
come up with your own to match any pre-existing
chronicle elements in play).
Character Goals
This is tricky, because the characters don’t
necessarily know that they have this as a goal—it’s
hard to have as a goal a thing you don’t know exists
in the first place.
The goal, then, is really to find an edge. The
characters just don’t have it. The city is sliding swiftly
into violence, and if they want to get any kind of
foothold, they need something, anything, to give them
that edge. So the goal here is the characters reaching
out and looking for a hook, a handhold, some kind
of advantage.
That advantage just so happens to be the Prince’s
box of secrets.
Actions
Investigating the Prince
Dice Pool: Wits + Investigation
Action: Instant (but takes at least an hour)
Hindrances: Assuming that the characters are
investigating the Prince’s haven (or at least a satellite
office), they must contend with the fact that the
Prince didn’t exactly leave everything out in a nice,
57
 neat pile (-2); further, assume that they only have
about an hour before they must escape the area and
hide from the coming sun. Which means that, given
that this is an extended roll, they only have so much
time and opportunity to do so. (It’s safe to assume
that the next night this haven or office will no longer
be available to them—Sheriff Kale may lock it down,
or may even burn it to the ground).
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character does something
that makes discovery of this information impossible
by the other characters—he accidentally sets a fire,
spills ink on critical documents, does something that
alerts mortal (or immortal) authorities, etc.
Failure: The character fails to turn up any
information regarding the box of secrets (though
reduced successes on the extended roll may have
earned the character other, lesser rewards).
Success: The character discovers a wall safe
behind a removable wainscoting panel. In the
safe is Tiberias’s journal, an overstuffed ledger of
coded transactions and missives. It’s not coded in
a “secret cipher” sort of way, but rather all written
in shorthand. It should require no roll to decode,
as it in and of itself does not contain much actual
information. It instead contains references to people
and events but no critical details—however, it does
consistently refer to a “secret weapon” the Prince
possesses, and this weapon is consistently tied to
both Amelie and Sheriff Kale. Kale seems to be the
one who “maintains” the weapon, while Amelie is
the one responsible for its location.
Exceptional Success: In addition to finding
information regarding the box of secrets, the
character also finds cell phone numbers for both
Kale and Amelie.
Confronting Harmon Kale
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion or Presence
+ Intimidation versus Kale’s Resolve + Composure
Action: Instant and contested
Hindrances: Kale is generally distrustful and on
edge since the Prince’s demise (-2), but if Kale learns
that the characters are the ones who did in the Prince,
then the penalty increases (-5)
Help: Characters mention the box of secrets (+1);
Kale is an ally (+3); Characters offer Kale something
he wants, such as information, a patsy, or a cherished
object (+3)
58 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character inspires only
violence in Kale. Maybe Kale knows what the
characters did, maybe he doesn’t, but now his
suspicious side has been triggered into full-blown
paranoia: He and any lackeys he has with him will
move against the characters—if not now, then when
he has an advantage.
Failure: The characters fail to impress Kale. He
wants nothing to do with them; he has enough on
his plate.
Success: The characters get Kale to open up. He’s
ready to make a deal in order to keep this city under
lock and key. Of course, the deal Kale wants is the
one that puts him in charge of the whole city, as
Prince. If the characters can convince him that this
is their aim, too (and hey, who knows, maybe it is),
then he’ll help them procure the box of secrets and
purge their own dark secrets from the box. He tells
them the truth: he procured the secrets, but Amelie
was the one who “administrated” them. He tried
time and again to discover the location but was
never successful.
Exceptional Success: An exceptional success gives
Kale pause—he will now consider making a deal that
allows him to serve not as Prince but as Primogen
or Seneschal provided he helps pick the next Prince
from the group of characters. Further, Kale will give
up some of the secrets contained in the box—after
all, he is the one that obtained them. They only
have so much value, however, because they are at
present without any kind of evidence. That said,
the characters could conceivably bluff and use the
secrets against some of their targets to sway them (for
instance, getting a vampire to back off his attacks or
to redirect his vitriol elsewhere).
Finding Amelie
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Investigation
Action: Instant (takes at least one night, may also
incur one of the Encounter Scenarios described on
p.65)
Hindrances: Characters don’t know or haven’t
have much contact with Amelie (-1), characters are
hostile (-3), Amelie discovers that they are on her trail
(-5; feel free to give her a chance to discover this with
a Wits + Investigation roll)
Help: Characters know Amelie fairly well (+2),
characters offer bribes (+3). Characters can of course
use Disciplines, too, which create different
rolls but also make easier the ability to
manipulate others into telling the characters
where Amelie is hiding.
Roll Results
Dramatic Fai lure: T he characters
arouse suspicions—now other vampires
are wondering what’s so important about
the Prince’s ex-lover and seneschal. Other
bloodsuckers begin following her trail.
Failure: Characters meet one dead end
after another.
Success: The characters track down
Amelie—she has been in hiding, moving
night after night. One night she’s hiding in
a tenement. The next she’s hunkered down
in some artist’s studio apartment. The third
she’s at some CEO’s penthouse—an old
ally of the Prince. She’ll hop from place
to place—homeless shelter to abandoned
asylum to house in the suburbs—relying on
the kindness of humans with whom she’s
cultivated relationships over the years. She
does not contact any Kindred during this
time; she hides only among her human herd.
Exceptional Success: An exceptional
success grants the characters the ability to
also note if they’ve been followed; it remains
possible that other vampires remain in their
periphery—Kale, for instance, is likely to cling
to the shadows to see where they go.

Dealing with Amelie

Unless Disciplines come into play, no rolls
are necessary to deal with her at the outset. If
the characters don’t really know much about
the box of secrets, she certainly won’t offer
anything to the characters unless they’re
particularly kind to her.
If they do mention the box of secrets,
however, she’ll react with surprise and—
despite being scared out of her wits—will
discuss the box with the characters.
She will first make an offer—she wants
a way out of town and $100,000. If the
characters can get that to her by the start of
the following night, she will take them to the
box of secrets.

Secrets on the Wind, Like Blood in the Water 59

 However, if the characters push or attempt to
intimidate her, she’ll offer to give them the box for
free—but from this point forward, she will take every
opportunity to betray the characters. She will, if
given half –a chance, perform one or several of the
following actions:
• Flee.
• Attack.
• Call for help.
• Offer the box to someone else if they agree to
“take care of” the characters.
• Manage to put the box up for bidding.
• Destroy the box and its secrets.
No matter what happens, she won’t tell the
characters that the box of secrets:
a) is contained in a heavy gun safe with a keypad
combination, and
b) actually has a smaller duplicate out in the open
that is both fake and a trap (explodes with white
phosphorus, burning any who are attempting to
get into it)
It’s important to note that Amelie responds well to
the characters if she discovers that they are the ones
who killed the Prince—yes, she was his lover, but that
was a role she was forced into and is frankly pleased
that her old master has gone the way of the dodo.
Gaming the Auction Crowd
If the nights go on and nobody tracks down
Amelie or the box of secrets, she will choose to hold
an auction in order to put the box of secrets into
60 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
the hands of a vampire earn herself a passage out
of the city.
The way the auction works is this: Amelie appears
out of hiding to deliver the message of the auction
by waltzing into Elysium and telling the gathered
vampires that the auction begins there, at midnight.
If she is hurt, the auction is off and Amelie or her
minions will destroy the box of secrets.
Otherwise, it’ll work like a silent auction: bids
go in a box at midnight. Bids can contain any kind
of offer imaginable over the course of one hour. At
the end of that hour, Amelie examines the bids and
chooses one; if your game has more room for it at the
table, the auction may continue as Amelie announces
the bid and allows for one more round of counter
offers (i.e. upping the ante). The vampire who wins
the auction will go with Amelie to the location of
the box of secrets (see the next scene, Pandora’s Box).
Consequences
The primary consequence of this scene (or rather,
sequence) is that reveals to the characters the
existence of the box of secrets—and they may even
get put on its trail.
However, negative consequences are inbound.
First, other vampires may be sniffing around and
end up following the same trail. Second, both Kale
and Amelie represent uncertain allies—any help they
offer could go south if they sense an opportunity to
do better elsewhere. They aren’t dedicated to helping
the characters. Third, this sequence can and should
be interspersed with the Encounter Scenarios (which
start on p. 65)—without those, this entire adventure
ends up a little bit toothless.
 Pandora’s Box
Overview
The characters arrive at the location of the box of
secrets—the basement of an abandoned hospital in
the worst part of town. They’ve possibly gone through
hell to get here (having had to cross a city in chaos
and endure various Encounter Scenarios), and what
they find here isn’t much different: complication after
complication blocks their path.
Description
The hospital is falling down around your ears. The place
is littered broken tile, shattered wall, pipe and conduit
and bundles of wire dangling from pockmarks of ruined
mortar. A lone wheelchair sits in the corner, covered in
dust. Graffiti stains every inch of exposed wall. It smells of
death and decay. This was where the Prince was keeping
his secrets?
The hospital is two f loors and a basement
sublevel—if the characters know roughly where the
box of secrets is located, they’ll head to the basement.
Otherwise, they may need to search the upper two
floors.
Once they head down into the basement…
The steps are concrete. Your footsteps echo. Cockroaches
run up the walls while rats flee from your feet. The
basement appears to be mostly a repository of junk: hospital
beds piled in a tangled pyramid, ratty curtains and boxes of
equipment that have been defunct for two decades. No light
shines down here: everything in the beam of the flashlight
(or in your Auspex-enhanced gaze) casts a shadow that
looks like a wretched monster forever reaching.
If they are lead to or discover the false box of
secrets, they’ll discover it in the morgue hidden
behind the only body drawer that still has a door:
You pull out the warped metal body drawer, the human-
sized tray rattling and screeching as it rolls a bit before
sticking halfway out. At the far back of the empty drawer
you see it: a little green blinking light. You want to get in
there? You want to get to the box of secrets and unlock the
keypad? Then you’re going to have to crawl into that dark
drawer on your back or on your belly—only one of you can
get in there to open the box.
Of course, that box is a trap. The real box of secrets
is disguised to look like a rusted medical cabinet
(about human-height) at the far end of the basement,
surrounded by nothing but piles of debris and boxes.
You open the medical cabinet and find another door
beyond it—this one belonging to a Fort Knox-brand fire-
protected gun safe. It’s clean. Smells like gun oil. Got a
big wheel to turn and a keypad with nine numbers on it.
If the characters crack it open…
Inside you find what you’ve been looking for all along:
the box of secrets. Except it’s not just one box. It’s a dozen
file boxes all containing documents, tapes, photographs,
maps—an unholy host of evidence and secrets regarding
the city’s nocturnal population. Not only is this a major
potential Masquerade breach, but it also guarantees the
wielder of such information a great deal of sway over the
unruly hierarchy.
Storytelling Goals
This is an “it’s too good to be true” scenario.
In some sense, it is true, and it is pretty damn
fantastic for the characters… which is why it’s your
job as Storyteller to escalate, escalate, escalate. It’s
impossible to predict exactly how the characters got
here or what they’ll do once here, but your job is to
make this difficult and throw the final conflict into
high gear. Options include:
• Utilize the trap in the morgue.
• Have the characters get attacked before they
manage to get a hold of the box of secrets: a
mortal gang attacks, a neonate mob tracks
them here, or one of any major vampire
characters (Hierophant, Cardinal, Sheriff)
decides it’s high time to clean up the mess
and secure the box for themselves.
Pandora's Box 61
 • Amelie may betray them. If she believes that block and share whatever (likely significant) profits
she herself will be betrayed or she recognizes come rolling in?
that the characters have been intimidating
her this whole time, she will lead them to the
trap, she will attempt to run, and she may even Character Goals
attempt to lock the characters in the basement
One assumes that the characters’ goal is to get the
while she sets other vampires on the trail.
box of secrets at any cost—the question is, why do they
• Fire bad. Imagine finding the box of secrets want it? To gain power? To destroy it? Sell it?
just as a fire breaks out? First, nobody wants How will they use it?
the box of secrets to burn up. Second, Must they betray one another to gain advantage
vampires + fire = frenzy. Who set the fire? from it?
Amelie, perhaps. A throng of neonates. Or
maybe it’s one final trap set on the Fort Knox
safe—cracking into the safe may set it off.
And at the end of it all? When the smoke clears
Actions
and the bodies are on the floor? Confirm the
moral dilemma at hand: the box of secrets contains Lockpicking and Safecracking
information on all the characters. Do they really want The hospital basement features a number of
their dark secrets exposed to one another? Further, barriers.
only one character can be Prince. Are they really
First, the door to the basement is locked with a
willing to let one of their own take the helm while
heavy chain and has reinforced hinges and fixtures.
the others step back? Can a deal be arranged where
Lockpicking here isn’t terribly difficult, but the time
one becomes Prince and the others Primogen? Could
it takes could expose the characters to danger.
they all agree to back a different vampire for Prince,
or is it possible that their goal is to either destroy Second, the trapped proxy safe in the morgue
the box or be the ones to put it up on the auction drawer is pretty tough. Lockpicking is a little more

62 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start

difficult... a burst of Vigor-induced strength might
be more effective.
Note, however, that this safe is trapped. Tampering
with it or opening it causes a white phosphorus
explosion. This explosive is incendiary: its blast area
is restricted to the confines of the morgue drawer, but
that also means it deals 4 damage to each character…
fire damage.
A character could attempt to notice the trap before
triggering it—a Wits + Investigation roll is necessary.
Note, however, that the character is in the dark and
so a -3 penalty is in play (but a powerful flashlight or
Auspex may help to diminish this penalty to zero).
Finally, the Fort Knox reinforced gun safe is, as
its brand name suggests, very difficult to damage:
the characters may want tools here, a lot of Vigor or
even explosives.
Combat
Our opinion is that this scene should not occur
without some manner of combat. The box of secrets
is a powder keg of possibility, and a whole herd of
vampires would love nothing more to exploit or
destroy it (the characters chief amongst them). Hence,
this hospital basement needs to be a chokepoint of
agitation and violence.
The question is, who is doing the attacking? Do the
characters happen upon someone already trying to
bust open the safe? Or are they ambushed themselves?
Through the course of the first two scenes and the
intermingled Encounter Scenarios, the characters
will likely have earned some enemies.
Still, if you don’t find that such an option is
available to you, consider using one of the following
five options:
• Sheriff Kale converges on the hospital
basement at the same time as the characters.
He’s brought with him a host of lackeys—just
enough to outnumber the characters by one
or two. Fortunately, these lackeys aren’t
high-caliber vampires. What begins is a good
old-fashioned standoff: can the characters
convince Kale to back off or share the prize?
Or is the only result a blood-soaked ballet of
violence?
• Pick a big, powerful vampire—Daciana or the
Cardinal will do—and have the characters
come upon this vampire already working
to open the box of secrets. This powerful
vampire will likely be alone as they have little
interest in letting their dark secret (whatever
it may be) fall into the hands of a neonate
attendant.
• Human beings aren’t always the toughest
predators—after all, they break so easily—but
consider having the hospital basement be
home to a shitload of them. Imagine that
a gang is down there having some kind of
initiation or party—they broke in, have no
idea what’s down there, and they’re raging
until the morning light. Maybe they have a
dog fight going in the one corner and a bonfire
in the other. Ten thugs together could make
trouble for even the most potent vampire
(the danger of humans is often the same as a
herd of cattle stampeding). Of course, if the
characters can make short, brutal work of just
a handful of the thugs, the rest will back off
and flee—but until that time, it’s game on for
a host of ultra-violence.
• Some Vampire: The Requiem games just
don’t end happily. Vampires backstab. They
manipulate. They hold secrets—which, in a
way, is exactly what this whole thing is about.
Secrets. Some people will go to extreme lengths
to protect their secrets, and so we come to
perhaps the darkest twist on the idea—that the
characters must battle one another for access
to the box of secrets. This can start easily—one
plans to use the box to her own ends, another
wants to be Prince but the others don’t agree.
From there, blood boils, frenzy ensues, and
it’s a claws-out fangs-ready fracas.
Worth mentioning are some of the combat
considerations that could come into play:
Cover: Characters will be able to conceal
themselves or take cover behind a whole host of
objects—hospital beds, tables, piles of file boxes, and
so forth. Assume that “partial concealment” (-2) is
easily accessible, but that characters willing to take a
turn or two to move can find full cover fairly easily.
Debris: The hospital is debris-strewn. And it’s
dark. Assuming that the fight is a dynamic one and
the characters aren’t merely standing together like
Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, that means debris is
going to come into play in terms of complicating
combat. Every turn presents a new complication
Pandora's Box 63
 (replacing the previous turn’s, not adding to it). Roll
a single d10 and compare the results on this table to
Consequences
determine the effect: Getting hold of the trove of dark secrets once
possessed by the Prince is a powerful game-changer:
Die Roll Effect one or all of the characters now has a leash connected
to most, if not all, of the city’s vampires. As such,
1-2 Characters each lose Defense this
turn (debris as disadvantage) this adventure can nicely serve as the opening for a
much larger, high-powered chronicle.
3-4 Characters each double Defense
this turn (debris as advantage) Of course, it can also serve as a tragic end to a
chronicle. Characters reaching for the brass ring of
5-6 Failures become dramatic failures
this turn (character swings, misses, the box of secrets may be destroyed in the conflict.
missteps and trips over an old desk) They may be destroyed by the box itself as their
secrets are leaked. They may be destroyed as they
7-8 Each character must succeed on
a Stamina + Dexterity roll to first kill one another for power. Or they may be wiped
make an attack (avoiding debris, out as the vampires rise up against them to bury the
keeping balance) box and its contents for good.
9-10 Character finds a “found object”
weapon nearby (board with a
nail in it, hunk of rebar, conduit).
Remember that using such a
weapon confers a -1 penalty for
being an improvised weapon

64 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start

 Encounter Scenarios
Below are a series of encounters you can drop
into the game at nearly any point. These are story-
based scenarios of conflict meant to illustrate a city
sliding into chaos and further meant to serve as
dangerous roadblocks preventing easy access to the
box of secrets. You will find ten possible scenarios—
the first five are a little milder, and fairly well “in-
theme” with what you normally get out of Vampire:
The Requiem. The latter five, however, are more
“gonzo”—they contain scenarios that are, succinctly
put, way more fucked up.
It would not be unusual to use at least five of these
(one for each night of Into the Void). The more
“gonzo” selections, should you choose to use them,
are perhaps better reserved for the latter two nights.
Dead Man’s Party
The characters receive an invite to a party. It’s a
celebration for the revolution, a party honoring a
“free city” where the so-called tyranny of the Prince
is gone. Ding dong, the dickhead is dead.
The party takes place in Elysium—a nightclub, a
bar, maybe a museum.
Thing is, nobody can tell who’s throwing the party.
Everybody’s invitation says a different name, a name
that will help ensure that the recipient will attend.
The result is a well-populated party full of nocturnal
monsters. It’s a powerful social occasion filled
not with physical violence but rather the personal
and emotional violence so common to the Danse
Macabre. It’s a good time to get the characters some
face-time with the other vampires to test the waters,
see who knows what.
But the mystery remains: who sent the invitations?
Whoever sent them has a plan: now that many of the
city’s vampires are in one place, it’s time to burn every
last one of them. The doors are barred, and someone
starts throwing Molotov cocktails. Given that fire and
vampires don’t mix, the event swiftly descends into a
chaos of potentially-frenzying monsters. Granted, most
of the vampires will probably survive—it’s something
of a clumsy plan, which is intentional.
So, who’s behind that plan? It’s up to you. It could be
a band of neonates who thought, “Hey, if we can scrape
clean the upper echelons of vampire society, then we
might actually have a shot at this Requiem thing.” It could
be a compact or conspiracy of vampire hunters who seize
on the opportunity of a politically destabilized Danse
Macabre and think they have the perfect solution. It
might even be a single ancilla or elder (even the Keeper
of Elysium himself) who figures it’s high time to eliminate
some competitors from the blood pool.
Fire It Up! Fire It Up!
On the streets, it’s madness. The human herd
can smell the ash and char on the wind and acts up
accordingly, clogging the streets with looters and
rioters. At first it’s just gang members, but after that?
Anybody and everybody joins in the fray.
The characters may come upon a scene of such
chaos. They may find a truck that’s been overturned,
and the driver has been dragged out and is being
beaten and threatened by rioters. A mob has grown
up—most have makeshift weapons (signposts, kitchen
knives, hunks of brick), but a few have real weapons
(machetes, shotguns, a Tec-9). Something is probably
on fire.
The characters have to make it through the
insanity. They find that backtracking just won’t do:
the mob has enclosed them unwittingly.
Do the characters decide to help the innocent?
Maybe not—after all, vampires aren’t superheroes. But
maybe they smell the opportunity to save a man and,
as a result, own him body and soul. Or maybe they
just don’t give a rat’s ass and decide to push through.
Pushing through seems easy, but isn’t. The mob
turns on them. They can smell something is different:
it’s like a herd of wildebeest realizing that a crocodile
walks among them. They can sense the predatory
nature of the characters.
Encounter Scenarios 65
 And so the characters become the target. How do they
deal with it? How can they move forward? Acting out
with Kindred powers is a breach of the Masquerade—but
the city’s in flames, so who really cares?
Hanging Posse
The characters come across—or are invited to—a
scene of retribution. A sympathizer to the Prince has
been captured a band of vampires (neonates lead by
an elder, perhaps, or a pack of Cronies stirred up by
Daciana). They’ve got him strung up and hanged.
It won’t kill him, of course, but with hands behind
his back and legs bound, it’s hard to make any kind
of a physical effort and break free. They’re planning
a long night of torture—maybe they’re doing it just
for shits and giggles, or maybe they think they can
get something out of the victim. Maybe they want
to know about the box of secrets. Or perhaps they
think they can find their way to accessing the Prince’s
assets.
Do the characters participate? Do they intervene?
Perhaps they simply walk away. But is there something
to be gained or lost in this encounter? What if the
vampire that gets strung up is Amelie or Harmon
Kale? What if the one character who’s about to get
tortured and torched is the one character who can
lead the characters to the box of secrets?
Pick a Side, Any Side
With the Prince destroyed, the city ends up like
a box of puzzle pieces thrown up into the air—any
picture of order is gone, and so too is any semblance
of a protected hierarchy. Now, it’s every vampire for
himself, which means a whole lot of blood-hungry
monsters jockeying for position.
It’s this “jockeying for position” that draws the
characters in. Vampires need to test loyalty, and they
need to earn supporters for any presumptive bid for
Praxis. Every vampire is going to attempt to secure
support in a different way. A monster like Daciana
will attempt to show her power and create worship.
Someone like the Cardinal will use shame, guilt, and
the threat of God-chosen violence. One vampire will
use honey, another will use vinegar.
The characters will get dragged into this—if you’d
like, more than once. They may first be invited to a
66 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
“meeting,” which is really a social ambush by either
one powerful vampire or by a whole covenant’s worth
of vampires standing together (for now). Or they
might be abducted or even attacked.
The end result is that they’re stuck in a room—a
board room, the back room at a strip-club or the
belly of a yacht floating out in the harbor—where
someone is trying to sway or even force their hand to
offer support. The only way out of that room might
be to lie—or kill.
SWAT Got You Surrounded, Son
Maybe it’s just bad luck—wrong place, wrong time.
Or maybe someone set them up. Either way, the
result is the same: the characters are the target of an
incoming SWAT team.
This scenario is best when indoors or in a cramped
vehicle. Consider that, as the characters follow the
trail of the box of secrets, they’re going to end up in
places that are claustrophobic and walled-off, with
fewer exits then they’d prefer. This is an excellent
place to set up a SWAT siege. And that’s exactly
what it is: SWAT thinks they have some high-profile
agitators—even domestic terrorists—on their hands.
They’re not fucking around. They’ll bring the smoke
bombs, the “door knockers,” the riot shotguns that
can blow off limbs. They might even have an armored
vehicle.
Now, to be clear, the characters are likely strong
enough to put a deep hurt on the SWAT officers. But
that doesn’t mean this isn’t a bad situation: a normal
human could easily crush a scorpion underfoot, but
that doesn’t mean a well-placed stinger won’t deliver
an unholy dose of venom.
This isn’t meant to be a serious threat, but it is
meant to act as a roadblock. The SWAT siege can
delay characters, which is all the more troubling if
their situation is time sensitive. Plus, dispatching
a whole team of SWAT doesn’t magically end the
problem. It could mean that they’re bringing hell
down on their heads. The police will send a stronger
response next time. Or the FBI will get involved. Or,
if this happens later in the adventure, the military
will come calling. Do the characters really want that
kind of attention?

An Army of Inquisitors
They arrive on the third night: an army of Lancea
Sanctum Inquisitors, put together from surrounding
cities (those within, say, 200 miles). They are here
not on behalf of the Cardinal, not on behalf of the
Prince’s lineage, but as the standard bearer of the
Lancea Sanctum itself.
The idea is this: yes, generally the Danse Macabre is
an expressly local affair. What happens in Las Vegas
stays in Las Vegas. Same with Denver, Philadelphia,
London, and Johannesburg. Each city serves as its
own fiefdom. In reality, those cities are lined up like
dominoes. If one city falls to chaos, the others may,
too—and the Masquerade is not a local affair. If the
truth of the Kindred’s existence is revealed, in this
hyperconnected age it is revealed globally—and almost
instantly. And that’s not just bad for the vampires in
that city. It’s bad for vampires everywhere.
The Sanctified Inquisitors on the city’s doorstep
arrive under the auspices of “restoring order in this
dark time”—which is perhaps true as a side benefit,
but they have other goals. The Inquisitors are here
for a twofold purpose: one, to enforce the standards
of the Lancea Sanctum and to convert vampires who
are found weakened and confused in the chaos; and
two, to evaluate the Cardinal as a proper replacement
for Prince. If they find him wanting (and they will
if his secret is exposed), they will choose a different
horse to back.
The characters will have to negotiate the Inquisitor
presence. Inquisitors may oppose them at every turn
just by remaining present and obstructive. Further,
the Inquisitors will doggedly seek out the box of
secrets should they catch even a whiff of its existence.
Dragged Into The Dark
Interested in turning this adventure into
something retributive and, perhaps, even redemptive?
Want equal parts “The Labyrinth at Minos” and the
torture-porn of “Saw?”
Below the city sits a massive Nosferatu warren:
a tangle of passages that borrow from sewer lines,
defunct subway tunnels, aquifers, wells and sandhog
passageways. Connecting them all are the many caves
and passages hand-carved by the Freaks themselves
over the course of the last 100 years. The warren is,
frankly, way bigger than the Nosferatu population
deserves: the city maybe has a dozen prominent
Freaks, and the warren labyrinth itself covers at
least 50 square miles in multiple directions (up and
down included).
In their search, the characters may fall prey to a
trap put forth by the Nosferatu Priscus, Grolsch. How
the trap is sprung is up to you—it’s possible that he
knows what they’re seeking and sends them on a wild
goose chase into the sewers, or maybe he sets p some
rigged portion of a building’s subbasement to send
the characters tumbling into an old cistern. The only
way out is down, through the channels and tunnels.
What follows is a bizarre morality play lasting
an entire night, where the characters must stumble
through the maze and brave traps and physical dangers
put forth by Grolsch and the other Nosferatu.
The question is, why? Grolsch is an intensely
political Kindred. Why resort to such brutal Freak
tactics? It’s possible that he’s doing this under another
false identity — maybe he speaks to the characters
only through a rusty old intercom system the Freaks
installed.
His goal may be to punish the characters. If he
discovers they destroyed the Prince, he may be
tormenting them to invoke some semblance of order
or accountability. It’s also possible he’s trying to suss
out why they did what they did, and what it is they’re
looking for.
Masquerade, Shattered
The city has eyes, you know: Closed circuit TV
cameras. Traffic light cameras. Helicopters filming.
All of it is amped up as the chaos ramps: the vampires
come out to drink and laugh and fuck and kill, and
the city sees.
Everything is connected. Savvy users—humans—
can tap into traffic feeds, listen to cop radios and
baby monitors and even use their own equipment
to capture the goings-on of the city. With only the
push of a button and a few clicks on the keyboard, a
person could upload feeds and videos and audio clips
not just to a friend but to the entire world—torrents
and Reddit and email and blogs and Twitter and…
well, the list goes on and on. That means vampires
have to be extra careful, because one slip-up and a
Masquerade breach ends up on Facebook.
The problem is, the vampires of this city are doing
everything but being careful. Kindred are woefully
anachronistic, and while some may be vaguely tech-
Encounter Scenarios 67
 savvy, most have never heard of “social media.” So,
over the course of the five nights, it’s more than likely
that a Masquerade breach will be caught on camera
and thrown up on the Internet.
Except that what’s captured isn’t just a breach—
we’re not talking about a muddy, uncertain video
of “something weird going on.” It’s a full-bore
shattering: a foot through the Masquerade’s mirror.
A high-definition (video and audio) camera captures
it crisply: a pack of vampires hunting in the middle
of a street or a nightclub or shopping mall. They
can do things that nobody else can do: leap great
heights, turn to wolves, grow claws. It’s all there, on
a three-minute video.
Sure, the vampires should’ve caught it before it ever
went to air. But they’re too preoccupied—remember,
the city is going apeshit right now. Nobody’s paying
the right kinds of attention.
Sure, maybe the characters could debunk it, but
the authorities have tried. By the time it makes it on
the news, they already have a video expert and an
audio guru and they can’t find any manipulation or
any signs of special effects.
For bonus points: what if it’s the characters who are
the ones caught on tape? Or what if it’s their enemies?
Can they exploit this? Can they undo it?
What happens when the city plays sudden host
to vampire hunters, drawn to the evidence, ready
to recruit, ready to hunt and kill, ready to turn the
tables on the nocturnal predators?
The Terrorism Tango
You know what this story needs? More terrorism.
When the city plunges into chaos, the humans
feel it. Hell, they don’t just feel it, they witness it
on their sidewalks and street corners. They may
not know what is going on (after all, the news can’t
68 Vampire: the Requiem Jump Start
keep a single narrative this time), but they can see
what’s right in front of their eyes, and what’s there
is violence and anarchy.
Most humans know this to be a good time to
hunker down and stay safe. Others, though, are
malefactors who seek to exploit the pandemonium
for their own needs—so you get looters and rioters
and gang members murdering one another.
Some malefactors are not content with small acts,
however, so we come back to the subject of terrorism.
With the police occupied (and the military not yet on
the scene), it’s a good time for a domestic terror group
to put in motion a hasty plan to create big damage
city-wide. What does this mean? An assassination
is big, but not big enough. Think bombs. Bombs
city-wide? Bombs on city buses and trains? Anything
that would snarl transportation is going to be bad
for the city and bad for its vampire population, too.
Further, that means the military comes rolling in
early, it means the news media fall all over themselves
to capture it, and it means that the city is on high
alert. All bad news for the Kindred.
And if you want to tweak it just that much more,
assume that the bombs set off one or both of the
following:
First, they cause a small earthquake. It’s just
enough to crack the street and bring down a few old
buildings, but it’s just enough to deepen the city’s
isolation and insanity. (If you’re so inclined, jack the
earthquake up to a full-bore mega-disaster, and next
thing you know you have an event similar to Batman’s
No Man’s Land where disaster strikes and the super-
villains take over the city in territorial pockets.)
Second, the event exposes—and awakens—a
millennia-old vampire, a vampire unlike anything any
of the Kindred in town have ever seen before. With
such a “true” elder suddenly on scene, the power
dynamic is sure to shift.
 Aftermath
As noted earlier, this adventure can either set up
a major chronicle or be the end of one: it represents
a significant sea change in the city’s nocturnal
hierarchy.
No matter how it shakes out, things are going to
look a lot different. Here are some options:
• If the characters get hold of the box of
secrets, they can be kings or king-makers.
Do they all survive? Do they set up one of
their own as Prince with the rest filling in
as Primogen? Consider the possibility that
they set up a political structure that doesn’t
involve a Prince at all. A Carthian approach
might set up presiding Parliament or even
a vote-by-vote democracy. (Earning votes
can create an intensely more political story.
Democracy sounds cuddly—but take a look at
the bloodthirsty politics of the United States,
then frame it as the political model of actual
bloodthirsty monsters, and you have a recipe for
brutally fantastic political storytelling.)
• Beyond the characters, the most obvious
choice for Prince is Sheriff Harmon Kale. Kale
as Prince, however, creates a more tyrannical
vibe than Tiberias ever put forth. Tiberias
was ultimately a fairly lax leader; Kale is
authoritarian. He demands obeisance and
obeys the Traditions and the Masquerade
above all else. This means, ultimately, he’s
not long for this world—someone will seek
to usurp him and take from him the box
of secrets. Besides, the chaos that erupts
from Tiberias’s death cannot so easily be
contained: once the snakes are out of the bag,
it’s hard to get them back inside. However, it’s
worth considering that Kale could become
a good Prince with proper advisors—are the
characters those advisors?
• If the characters do not manage to procure the
box of secrets, then someone else will. And
that “someone” will become the Prince. For
instance, the Cardinal seeks the role of Prince
above all else, and will create something of
a “vampiric theocracy” which will foment
a cold war between the Sanctum and the
Circle. Daciana doesn’t really want the Prince
role, but will find someone in her covenant
deserving of the role. (By “deserving,” we
of course mean “able to serve as Daciana’s
blood puppet”—consider Quinn as a curious
option). Some characters are more capable
than others. Siobhan or Atticus would
make good, somewhat moderate Princes.
Robicheaux would be a strip of taffy pulled
this way and that. Owen probably wants the
role but ultimately wouldn’t be able to handle
the pressure.
• What happens if the characters destroy the
box and with it, all of those secrets? The city
will continue on in chaos for a couple more
nights until enough vampires get put out of
their misery to balance the scales toward one
side or another. Eventually someone will find
their way to the Prince’s seat and saner minds
will win out—but it takes a number of fiery,
uncertain nights to get to that point. In the
grand scheme of vampiric politics, this is just a
drop in the bucket. But it’s a major flashpoint
just the same: over the course of 5-10 nights,
the landscape of the Danse Macabre changes.
Aftermath 69
 You’ve been charmed by a vampire’s supernatural force of Your character must assert dominance and superiority.
personality. You don’t want to believe that anything he says is Either she gives it her all, or she falters. Any time she’s in direct
a lie, and you can’t read his true intentions. The vampire adds competition with another character, she suffers a −2 die penalty

COMPETITIVE
his Majesty dots to Manipulation rolls against you. Any Wits + on any rolls where she doesn’t spend Willpower. This includes
Empathy or Subterfuge rolls you make to detect his lies or uncover contested and extended rolls. As well, any rolls to tempt or
CHARMED
his true motives suffer a penalty equal to his Majesty dots. Using coerce her into competition achieve exceptional success on three
(PERSISTENT)

supernatural means to detect his lies become a Clash of Wills.
You want to do things for the vampire, to make him
happy. If he asks, you’ll do favors for him like he was one of
your best friends.
Possible Sources: The Majesty Discipline.
Resolution: The vampire attempts to seriously harm you
or someone close to you, you make a significant financial or
physical sacrifice for him.
Beat: You divulge a secret or perform a favor for the
vampire.
successes instead of five.
This Condition fades naturally after a number of nights
equal to the Blood Potency of the vampire who caused it.
After resolving Competitive, your character cannot be
subject to this Condition again for a full month.
Possible Sources: A challenging predatory aura conflict,
facing a breaking point.
Resolution: Win or lose a competition where someone
reaches a breaking point.
Beat: n/a

A vampire has given your character a specific command Something’s scared you to the point where you lose
that she cannot go against. You don’t have a choice whether rational thought. You need to leave right now. Your only
or not to follow the command — your will is no longer your priority is getting the fuck away from the thing that’s
frightened you — the hell with your stuff, your friends, and

FRIGHTENED
DOMINATED

own. If your task has a natural end, such as “Follow that man
until he enters an apartment then call me with the address,”
you resolve the Condition once you complete it; otherwise
it ends at sunrise. Once you resolve this Condition, you can’t
quite remember what happened while you were under the
vampire’s spell.
Possible Sources: The Dominate Discipline.
Resolution: Take more bashing or lethal damage than your
Stamina. Experience a breaking point when following the
command, and succeed at the related Resolve + Composure
roll. Follow the vampire’s command.
Beat: n/a
your allies. If someone tries to stop you from escaping, you’ll
fight your way past them. You can’t approach the source of
your fear or act against it — and if the only way out involves
going near the source of your fear, you’ll collapse on the
ground in terror. Supernatural creatures prone to loss of
control, including vampires, must roll to avoid frenzy. This
Condition lasts until the end of the scene; suppressing its
effects for a turn costs a point of Willpower.
Possible Sources: The Nightmare Discipline, coming face
to face with a phobia.
Resolution: The character escapes from the source of
his fear.
Beat: n/a

Your character is deeply inspired. When your character Your character’s will is subordinate to that of a vampire.
takes an action pertaining to that inspiration, you may You’re not obviously hypnotized — you’re a bit quiet and
resolve this Condition. An exceptional success on that roll reserved compared to normal, but nothing out of the ordinary.
MESMERIZED

requires only three successes instead of five and you gain a When the vampire who inflicted this Condition gives you a
command, you cannot resist. If it’s something that you wouldn’t
point of Willpower.
INSPIRED

Possible Sources: Exceptional success with Crafts or
Expression, the Inspiring Merit, the Auspex Discipline.
Resolution: You spend inspiration to spur yourself to
greater success, resolving the Condition as described above.
Beat: n/a
normally do, you might look like you’ve been hypnotized or that
you’re sleepwalking, but otherwise you look and act normally. If
you resolve this Condition, gain a +3 die bonus to resist further
attempts to Mesmerize you in the same scene; you also can’t
quite remember what happened while you were under the
vampire’s spell. This Condition fades naturally after a scene,
which does not count as resolving the Condition.
Possible Sources: The Dominate Discipline.

Resolution: Take any amount of bashing or lethal damage.

Experience a breaking point as part of a vampire’s command.

Beat: n/a

Your character wants, for the sake of wanting. Any

Composure or Resolve rolls to resist temptation suffer a −2
die penalty. As well, the character that brought forth this
Condition achieves exceptional success on three successes
instead of five when making any rolls to tempt your character.
This could apply to Majesty rolls as well as mundane social rolls.
WANTON

This Condition fades naturally after a number of nights

equal to the Blood Potency of the vampire who caused it. In
the case of the predatory aura, this is the vampire who won
the conflict. In the case of testing for detachment, this is the
vampire’s own Blood Potency.
After resolving Wanton, your character cannot be subject
to this Condition again for a full month.
Possible Sources: A seductive predatory aura conflict,
facing a breaking point.
Resolution: Indulge in something that constitutes a
breaking point.
Beat: n/a
CONDITION CARDS CONDITION CARDS CONDITION CARDS CONDITION CARDS
CONDITION CARDS CONDITION CARDS CONDITION CARDS
 Vampires gather under many banners. But five have endured the tumult of Western history better
than any other. The Carthian Movement. The Circle of the Crone. The Invictus. The Lancea et
Sanctum. The Ordo Dracul. Each has its fierce devotees, its jealous rivals, and its relentless enemies.
Now,for the first time, the covenants speak for themselves.
This book includes:
• A variety of stories from each of the covenants, all told in their own words.
• Never-before revealed secrets, like the fate of the Prince of New Orleans.
• New blood sorcery, oaths, and other hidden powers of the covenants.

COMING SOON!
COMING SOON!
D ogs have inherited the world, building the kingdom of
turies after the
Pugmire untold cen-
Ages of Man are over. These dogs have been uplifted to use
tools and language, and they seek to rediscover the ruins of the Old Ones. Some
have learned to use the leftover technology of humanity, but they believe it to be
magic handed to them by their lost gods. Others seek to create an ideal civiliza-
tion, using a Code of Man compiled from ancient, fragmentary lore left behind
by humanity. Pugmire juxtaposes the tropes of high fantasy with our relationship
with domestic dogs. You play pioneers that explore lost ruins in search of relics,
knowledge, and danger. The world is dangerous and mysterious, but good dogs
will persevere.

Some highlights of Pugmire include:

• An evocative, mysterious, and family-friendly setting, presented from the per-
spective of iconic characters like Princess Yosha Pug.
• A traditional fantasy rules system redesigned for streamlined play and easy cre-
ation of heroic dogs, with an emphasis on cooperation and action over competi-
tion and violence.
• A variety of callings and breeds that give focus to a
dog’s role in society and in the adventuring party.
• Rival races to interact with, like cats and badgers, along
with terrifying and dangerous monsters that roam the
landscape.
Welcome to
THE CHRONICLES OF DARKNESS.
A world like our own,
but glitzier, sexier,
and much, much
BLOODIER.
You are one of the Kindred,
the immortal predators that stalk the world
between the streetlights.
You are also a vampire, a junkie.
Every night, you beg and you borrow
and you steal just a little more life,
just a few more sweet moments.

But there's a guy at the top. The Prince.

HE'S GOT EVERYTHING.
The money, the secrets, the blood.
Tonight, you're going to take it from him.

Reap the Whirlwind includes:

TOMORROW, THERE WILL
BE HELL TO PAY!
• Rules for creating and playing
vampires in the Chronicles of
Darkness®
• The first two levels of every clan Dis-
cipline, the dark powers of the dead
• A complete adventure by noted
horror author Chuck Wendig
• This book previews rules from
The Chronicles of Darkness
Rulebook and Vampire:
the Requiem Second Edition,
available now from Onyx Path
Publishing.